Review: Peace, SWX

It’s been three years since Peace nailed the troublesome sophomore album and filled festival tents with anthemic indie sing-alongs before disappearing behind a mound of crushed plastic cups. Perhaps appropriately titled for a band named Peace they returned earlier this month with third album, Kindness is the New Rock and Roll, their most pensive and political venture to date.

Unfortunately, their set at SWX isn’t without issue. The four-piece take to the stage as the lights dim and the crowd erupts, but, as they play their first note a large electrical crackle rings out bringing an early end to their introduction. Drummer Dom Boyce shouts out “you’ve been great” as they exit and stagehands begin to frantically search for solutions.

10 minutes later the crowd begin to get restless as music resumes over the speakers. 15 minutes later chants of “we want peace” ring out like an impromptu anti-war protest and you can’t help but think that this situation crossed their mind when choosing their name. 20 minutes later as the crowd is blaring out A-ha’s, Take on Me, the lights begin to dim again.

This time the notes of Wraith successfully ring out and a collective tension is eased.  They quickly move into the second single from the new album, Power, and it’s almost entirely anthemic from here. It’s easy to remember how they were taking main stages by storm only a few years ago as they charge through I’m a Girl, Toxic and Lost on Me, only stopping for a short, Seinfeld-esque bit, thinking about why we started to call albums records and mixtapes.

New album tracks flow coherently and find their own place in the setlist nestling next to mainstays and keeping the crowd on their toes. The restless energy in the room peaks with 1989 (Delicious), which they always use as an excuse to mess with those in the room. The 10-minute anthem becomes a minefield of drops and riffs when played live and in their usual fashion builds up to the point where a circle is starting to form in the crowd before launching into DJ Otzi’s cover of Hey Baby, leaving a few overly-eager punters flailing in an empty pit.

The band leave frontman Harry Koisser alone on stage for their encore as he plays through Float Forever. They join him again for, Lovesick, before Koisser takes to the piano for their latest title track, commenting introspectively that bands have to bring in pianos for a third album. They close with Bloodshake and inexplicably take a brief moment out to quote Lord of the Rings.

Despite the tech problems faced tonight, it’s clear that Peace haven’t been forgotten about by their fans, and it’s more than likely that we’ll see them take up their festival mantle again over the summer.