Review: Gomez, Bristol 02 Academy

It’s been 20 years since the release of indie rock group Gomez’s debut album Bring It On and as they performed to a sold out crowd at the O2 Academy as part of an anniversary tour, they shouted out “We are frayed – but you guys look great!”

During their seamless set, which for the most part followed the order of how the songs appear on the album, they constantly interacted with the audience and made it clear that they really appreciated the support from their fans over the years; looking around the room – the gig goers were mostly made up of people in their late 30s and upwards which probably means that like myself, a lot of them were students in 1998 when Gomez’s first album hit the shelves.

Gomez’s Bristol gig was sold out

It was clear throughout the whole night, which started with the infectiously upbeat ‘Get Miles’, that Bristol was loving this gig – it just fitted right into our city’s friendly vibe which is full of zen; Gomez were as great as we all remembered and there were appreciative, communal nods between people in the audience as the evening progressed. We all knew what each other were thinking – it was so good to hear Gomez in a live setting again because they have definitely stood the test of time and still have that extremely likeable stage presence.

“The audience at some of our gigs have been singing the intro rift to this next song, Glasgow did very well. Let’s see if you guys in the Wild West can top them?” they challenged us before they then started performing ’78 Stone Wobble’. We all loved this test and it made everyone take notice and really get involved. Whether we managed to beat Glasgow remains to be seen, Gomez were far too polite to actually tell us.

Their free flowing, easy interaction continued throughout the 18 song setlist and we repaid them by communally singing along to several lines in different songs – such as “She’s fine but wasting time, said to her there’s beauty” when they performed ‘Make No Sound’ and “Got some friends in my BMW, tryin’ to get themselves arrested’ when they sang ‘Get Myself Arrested’.

The songs that got the biggest response though were ‘Whippin’ Piccadilly’ (which resulted in gleeful whooping noises) and ‘Bring It On’ (“Thank you very much Bristol. Thank you for a very memorable night! Thanks for sticking with us for 20 years!” they uttered just before they sang that one.)

The night was rounded off with two encores which consisted of ‘Revolutionary Kind’ and some more of the fan favourite ‘Whippin’ Piccadilly’; as the gig came to a close it was obvious that these guys have a sound that is as strong, unique, chilled and addictive as it ever was. They might be older now and have performed these songs over and over, but they still appear to enjoy what they are doing as much now as they always did. You can always rely on Gomez to bring the goods.