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YOUNG GUNS / HOLDING ABSENCE – BIRMINGHAM ASYLUM, 23.09.17
Opening their set with a calm, at-
mospheric, almost soothing song en-
titled ‘Everything’, Holding Absence
lull you into a false sense of security.
And then, bam, ‘Everything’ has gone
and a completely different beast has
arrived; an aggressive beast on a mis-
sion. Songs such as ‘Dream Of Me’,
new single ‘Heaven Knows’ and
‘Penance’ sway between a mellow-
ness and an angsty, almost hardcore
rage. And as quietly as they came,
they leave, as ‘Penance’ transforms
into a tranquil outro. Kind of like hav-
ing both a devil and an angel on your
shoulders, Holding Absence are both
heavy and light, soft but violent, nice
and nasty.
This headline tour by Young Guns
sees the band from High Wycombe
delving into their entire musical cata-
logue. Opening with ‘In The Night’,
their debut single from 2009, we get to
witness songs from the beginning of
the band’s history to now. ‘Rising Up’,
a single from ‘Ones And Zeros’, is
something the band have been doing
slowly but surely. Gustav jumps off the
stage and onto the barrier step to get
closer to the crowd. We get songs like
‘Stitches’ from their debut full-length
as well as the title track from their lat-
est album, ‘Echoes’. “We’ve lost a lot
of musicians that I looked up to, grow-
ing up,” says Gustav, before the band
perform a cover of ‘My Hero’ by Foo
Fighters. The band don’t often per-
form covers live, but it’s one of the
highlights of the set. The pace eases
for ‘Living In A Dream Is So Easy’,
which the audience joins in for. “You
sing better than me, thank you so
much,” Gustav says at the end of the
song. The set includes ‘At The Gates’,
a song the band haven’t played live
for about seven years. The band have
a new drummer in the drum seat this
tour – Casey McHale, who does a fine
job keeping the beat. As the set gets
closer to the end, the more recent sin-
gles make their presence known.
‘Buried’ gets the crowd a little more
active, after a nudge from Gustav, be-
fore ‘Bones’ and ‘I Want Out’ wrap
things up in the encore. There are a
lot of fans in the big room at the Asy-
lum, proof that the band’s hard work
over the years has been worth it. As a
band that we’ve seen many times
supporting others, it is now their turn
to shine. And tonight they do.
YYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Gustav Wood (Young Guns)
Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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