Words + Photo: Caitlin Mellors

Scottish pop rock group Vukovi took on Sheffield this Saturday as part of their ‘My God Has Got A Gun Tour: Part 2’, and they most definitely brought the energy. Following the success of their EU/UK ‘My God Has Got A Gun Tour: Part 1’, this second leg has the band touring up and down the UK, a year on from the ‘My God Has Got A Gun’ album release. I can confidently say that this band shows no signs of slowing down as they put on a more than electric gig.

Janine Shilstone looked absolutely stunning framed against a backdrop of swirling fog and deep pink lights. She took to the stage at Foundry and completely owned it, radiating pure energy and channelling chaos. The crowd gave just as good as they got; from a mosh pit breaking out during the very first song to a small but well-orchestrated wall of death later on. One memorable crowd moment was when a person called Dan called out to the band after a fast-paced song claiming he’d lost his t-shirt in the madness. Janine called for a full-scale search “This is a priority, everybody look for Dan’s t-shirt.” When she checked back later in the night to find that Dan was still shirtless, her exasperated “Fuck sake” was met with a roar of laughter. 

After what was looking to be a fast-paced evening, with Janine decreeing “Sheffield’s fucking class”, we got a moment of respite with a stripped back version of Vukovi’s ‘Colour Me In’. The crowd locked in, pulling out their phones and lighting up the room without any prompting. A proper atmospheric moment. 

I was beginning to wonder if we’d make it through the gig without the mandatory “Yorkshire” chants that always happen, but we were blessed just before the penultimate song with the familiar, almost patriotic rendition that would have made even the most stalwart Yorkshireman cry.The last song brought the highlight of the night, one that was nothing short of mental. Janine ended up right in the middle of the crowd on someone’s shoulders. She belted out fan-favourite song ‘La Di Da’ as people ran circles around her in one last mosh of the night. With her microphone in one hand and what looked to be a bottle of Prosecco in the other, this proved to be a real rockstar moment. The final verdict of the night? Vukovi. Fucking class.