14 years after their prime and biggest hit, it was a surprise to many, me inlcuded, to see Toploader announce an intimate tour of the UK.
Stopping off at Liverpool’s East Village Arts Club, Joshua Washbourn and his band played what turned out to be a very good set, which was a surprise to many. The set was a slow burner, with it taking 5 or 6 of the band’s back catologue hits to be played before the venue gave the band any sort of recognition they were actually on stage.
The gig was opened by two of Liverpool’s most exciting prospects in alt indie rockers Small Print and brit-pop influenced Reva, who in fairness had more fans there than Toploader and both bands had the floor of the theatre room of the venue full, dancing and singing along to their catchy tracks. Growing rapidly in popularity, both bands are at the top of their game and rising to the top of the ever famous music scene in Liverpool, on the basis of the performance at this gig, they’re two bands to watch.
Back to the headline act, Toploader, who played a mixture of all their previous albums, and introduced the crowd to some new material which went down well, but nothing like their hit single ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ which attracted the whole venue’s attention, with the mixture of teenagers, young 20’s and middle age couples all singing along together, and proving to the band that they could still have a successful return to the charts with a solid comeback album of their well known piano heavy uplifting tracks that they are known best for.
A gig where more people where at the venue for the support acts than the headline band themselves, but nevertheless, a gig were everyone went home happy with Dancing in the Moonlight in their heads once again, singing it all the way home.