Progresja Club, Warsaw, Poland2nd November 2019
Counterfeit & Support: Vukovi
If you have never heard about COUNTERFEIT, you definitely have seen Jamie Campbell Bower - as vampire Caius from ‘Twilight’ saga, or young Grindelwald in ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’ or demon hunter Jace Wayland in ‘The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones’. In the band, Jamie is trying himself in new role - as front man of a Punk-Rock band. This evening was meant to be special in two ways: musicians were going to play new material from their second upcoming album and devoted fans from Polish fun-club prepared surprise action during ‘It gets better’. Scottish Pop-Punk band VUKOVI from Ayrshire joined COUNTERFEIT as warm-up act during the European tour and opened the evening in Warsaw’s Progresja.
Vukovi
VUKOVI (“wolves” in Croatian language) had seen different times, up and downs in their career and after joining of Janine Shilstone as a lead lady of the band their sound has become more intense and fun. The band consist of Janine Shilstone on vocals and Hamish Reilly on drums. The band presented new material from the upcoming album, ‘Fall Better’, and boiled up the audience before COUNTERFEIT has entered the stage. https://www.facebook.com/vukoviband
Music & Performance
From the first moment on stage, Janine declared that the band know that everybody is waiting for the guys from COUNTERFEIT but they will try to deliver all the best energy and put the audience in the right mood. The front woman was spending most of her time on stage on the edge of a specially built dais which was going straight into the heart of the crowd. She has had so intense and close contact with the people all the time while singing and jumping as well as she kept the eye contact on the high level. Being so close to the fans doubled the concert energy and fan’s reaction.
During most of the songs Janine was taken mobile phones from the first row and was filming herself and the crowd around. VUKOVI delivered eight songs including the new single ‘C.L.A.U.D.I.A’ and ‘All that candy’. Janine was restless and inspiring till the end of the show and the band has left the stage with loud fan’s cheering.
Setlist
01. Behave
03. C.L.A.U.D.I.A
04. All that candy
05. I’m wired
06. Target practice
07. La Di Da
08. Animal
Counterfeit
The band was formed in 2015 in London by actor and model Jamie Bower on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Sam Bower on guitar, Roland Johnson on bass, Tristan Marmont on guitar and drummer Jimmy Craig. COUNTERFEIT released their first loud and angry album, ‘Together we are stronger’, in 2017 and became “Best Live Act” in the same year declared by Association of Independent Music. http://therealcounterfeit.com / https://www.facebook.com/therealcounterfeit
Music & Performance
This evening wasn’t the first time band played in Poland. The guys took part in Pol’and’Rock Festival in 2018. So, this evening was like the great return for the band, because increased in one year fan base was waiting for quintet warmly and impatiently. Sharply at 9 PM the sound of the intro slowly started to crawl in the club and in a few seconds Jamie jumped onto the stage like a devil from the box and greeted the audience which was about to go insane. I even felt regret that I forgot my earplugs - the crowd was so loud in a good way! The guys have started with new songs and each of them was highly appreciated by the fans. That was the moment everybody, and me, was waiting for: unity, high energy, togetherness and powerful sound.
Jamie was a clockwork-like, running and making high jumps. He was escaping in the heart of the stage and rapidly returning back to the crowd into its loving arms. It was obvious that the rest of the band had a great time on stage delivering new tracks as well as showing new point of view on the well-known songs. Unity and happiness ruled the concert that night and I felt it with every fibre when people sang alone song by song. A huge surprise was the TWENTY ONE PILOTS cover ‘Jumpsuit’! Guitar riffs made their job and the music eliminated all doubts - the band is mature and well-played on stage. Then came the interlude and Jamie talked a lot about mental health awareness and drug addiction. His words were heard in deep silence, attentively and with absorption. He declared he has been cleaned for two years and suggested to fall in addiction with love, job, hobbies and any passion thing than destructive drugs.
During the last song, ‘It Gets Better’, the audience rose papers with phrases from this song and sang alone in full throat. The musicians used this moment and started to pull girls from the nearest rows onto the stage to jump and sing together. No doubts that song finished on the highest note with hugs and smiles. As an encore COUNTERFEIT played only one song, ‘Enough’, and Jamie has made his final jump from the drum set. After the concert was over, the audience flowed to the hall of the club to empty the merchandise stall.
Setlist
01. Paralyzed
02. Getting over it
03. You Can’t Rely
04. New Insane
05. Jumpsuit (Twenty one pilots cover)
06. Lack of Oxygen
07. Alive
08. Get Out
09. 11:44
10. It Gets Better
---
11. Enough
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 10
Light: 9
Sound: 9
Total: 9.2 / 10
All pictures by Liudmyla Radyk
Comments powered by CComment