The Verse’s Sophie Baldock reviews Coasts at The Haunt on 20th October 2017.
Queueing outside in the cold wind, I’m amongst no more than fifteen people waiting to enter The Haunt to hear the stunning music from Coasts. Shuffling inside, removing my scarf and hat that’s been keeping me warm as I waited, I look around I start to think that perhaps it could be a bad turnout – the place is not even a quarter full.
How wrong I was! The room slowly began to fill and by the time the opening act comes on the place is packed – people of all ages, in groups; couples or solo gig-goers like myself have all huddled underneath The Haunt’s roof to listen, sing, and to have a night to remember. Misfires kicked off the night with their own songs, pumping the crowd up as we all eagerly wait for the clock to strike 8:45pm.
As the lights dimmed once again, after Misfires had departed with killer interlude music blasting through the speakers, making the floor vibrate and everyone is getting riled, ready and dancing to the beat. Finally, Coasts emerge, and the screams are deafening as they blast straight into Modern Love. The crowd is instantly singing along – everyone is dancing, jumping and I don’t think anyone wasn’t smiling.
Watching the set continue, the band really gets into the swing of their songs, and the crowd is a beating heart of appreciation and the flood of feelings as their songs tug on our heartstrings. Playing Heart Starts Beating, the room erupts, with the song vibrating in my chest and through my feet as the floorboards shake. People are belting out the lyrics with so much passion and as Chris yells at everyone to jump, he begins to dance upon the stage with the crowd following his lead – a complete mosh pit of waving arms and stamping feet.
The crowd is fuelled by the band’s passion and emotive lyrics. Even though I only found this band by stumbling upon them on YouTube, I was in awe of their voices, their harmonies and endless energy that the crowd couldn’t drink in quick enough. Slipping into slower songs from their new album This Life, you can visibly see the emotions on Chris’s face as he smiles sadly whilst singing the lyrics of Let Me Love You and Come On Over. The audience sways and sings, the beautifully heartfelt words echoing across the room and you can taste and bittersweetness of the songs in the air. Seven years of the band’s talent and they’re still so full of love and energy towards their fans – evident when they look out across the room as Chris leans down to sing almost at eye level at the fans nearby.
Making a short but powerful speech of gratitude to the entire room as they dedicate the next song Paradise to their fans, who scream back their love and thanks and adoration. I’m speechless, this band is still in awe of their fans and vice versa. Belting out the lyrics, I can feel my heart in my mouth as the lyrics drip with love.
Throughout the rest of the setlist, I never once stop smiling, and no one stops dancing. This room is electric, sparking off of the energy surrounding us – everyone is wide-eyed in ecstasy and in awe of the band and their talent, the noise rumbling in your bones and making your ribs shake and your heart jump into your mouth.
Counting down to the final three songs on their list, Chris calls for everyone “to go f*cking crazy!” to which we happily oblige. I can barely move but I don’t care, with everyone edging closer to the base of the stage, all eager to get as close to their energy and to absorb as much of the last few moments as possible. The crowd becomes a swirling, beating mass of hearts and hands all in sync to the rhythm – no one cares about anything except the songs that are being sung to them, for them.
As their second to last song ended, I was feeling slightly disappointed that my personal favourite Oceans hadn’t been played. But as they had a final thank you shout out to the crowd, Chris announced this was their last song and ‘can you guess what it is?’ and the entire room went wild! Clearly, it’s not only my favourite but half the rooms favourite song too! Oceans was the perfect song to end the night, a final shout out to being by the seaside in Brighton. The crowd were fuelled by this one epic finale song; it was incredible!
And to make it even better, Coasts called for a stage invasion and started pulling and pointing at members of the crowd to come up onto the stage with the band and dance, take selfies and sing with the band themselves! The atmosphere was on fire, the fans ecstatic and screaming wildly as the band threw everything they had into that one final song – it was a night to remember that’s for sure!
