You’d be mistaken for thinking Peace aren’t a big deal judging by the venues they’ve picked to play in over the next few months. The B-Town band have left academies to one side to showcase material from their second album, 'Happy People', in front of more intimate audiences.
Queen’s Social Club is their residency for the next two nights and follows suit with it’s beer stained carpets and tinsel covered walls. Filled with a few hundred teenagers, and couples sat on laps around the fringes, it feels like a weird school disco, where the wacky kids stick out like a sore thumb.
Once upon a time Peace would have fitted into that category, but having stuck it out in their mum’s garage and donning dubious haircuts, they’ve now grown into something everyone craves. Bodies swirl in a swollen mass towards the feet of singer Harry Koisser’s trailing fur coat as the band rattle off ‘Higher Than The Sun’ and ‘Follow Baby’ from first album, ‘In Love’. The opportunity to play new material is latched to as ‘O You’ and ‘Perfect Skin’ are heard for the first time, the latter opting for the chance to console niggling anxieties; ‘I wish I had perfect skin, I wish I was tall and thin’, not the first unusual lyric choices we’ve become accustomed to.
Other new tracks, ‘Money’ and ‘Lost On Me’ are already instant B-Town classics and send the crowd into a frenzy, but it’s ‘1998’ at full thrust which really sorts the tie-dye from the die-hards. The twisted version of Binary Finary’s dance hit isn’t the only 1998 floor filler to leak from their guitars though as ATB’s, ‘9PM [Til I Come]’ ,rings around the room amongst woozier tones of ‘Float Forever’ and ‘Sugarstone’. The band opt for a different pre-millennium sound though in romanticised ‘Someday’, where Koisser’s vocals slip in and out of Liam Gallagher whines, whilst he stands unashamedly in some sort of rat onesie - a questionable choice of dress even for him. Thankfully one of the stronger new additions to Peace’s set comes in the form of ‘World Pleasure’, an unassuming savior to Brit-pop which is meant for stadiums but stands glorified amongst sticky condensated walls. Bass player, Samuel Koisser even takes a step into the crowd to show off his funk-fueled riffs, as Harry hails the crowd, ‘one of the best we’ve ever had’.
(@JJShreeve)