Photo Credit: Hannah Mayne / Words: Lauren Pine
Fresh off the release of their latest single, ‘Any Minute Now’, Red Rum Club stopped by Portsmouth Guildhall on 14th October as part of their UK Tour.
Having recently been on tour supporting the likes of Blossoms and making the rounds at some major indie festivals across the country, Red Rum Club have mastered their live performance. From start to finish, they deliver a captivating performance, each member bringing their own talents to create an engaging dynamic onstage. This Portsmouth show was no different.
While waiting for the band to come on, eagle eyed audience members would have spotted the bass drum head featuring an image of Jack from The Shining, a comical nod to the band’s namesake. Elsewhere, in keeping with the Western theme of their most recent album, BUCK, a giant horseshoe hung above the stage with a gritty black and red backdrop behind it.
Once the lights went out and conversations halted, the band sauntered onto the stage with the air and confidence of true professionals. Launching straight into ‘American Nights & English Mornings’, a single from the aforementioned BUCK album. Despite being a lively track and the band’s energy reflecting this, the audience were somewhat apprehensive to begin with, both in their volume and movement. However, once they launched into their third track of the evening, ‘Eleanor’, they seemed to quickly loosen up, showing it to be a clear crowd favourite.
The band evidently picked up on the shyness from some of the audience, asking to see some “moves” before playing ‘Nightcalling’, to which they happily obliged. For the rest of the set, both the band and the audience were on the same page, moving and jumping to the music whenever they could.
Seeking to please all, the band moved through Red Rum Club classics like ‘Vibrate’ and ‘Kids Addicted’, to even playing a track requested by a fan earlier in the day. It was clear that the show was for their fans, with lead singer Fran Doran engaging and singing directly to them throughout the performance and thanking them for supporting them by coming out to the shows.
Closing out the main set before the encore, the band played ‘Hole In My Home’, an anthemic indie track from their 2024 album Western Approaches. Thankfully they didn’t make us wait too long before coming back on to play ‘Eighteen’, beginning the track acoustically with just Doran’s vocals and Michael McDermott on the acoustic guitar, before the rest of the band slowly joined.
Finally, with two songs that their audiences were patiently waiting for, they played ‘Would You Rather Be Lonely’ and ‘Vanilla’ back to back, every word being sung loudly back to them. Seeing bands perform their biggest and most popular tracks can often feel like seeing something rehearsed and reheated, but Red Rum Club bring the same enthusiasm and infectious energy to every track on their setlist, creating a buzz which still remains even after they leave the stage, overflowing into the night as the audience walks out the doors of the Guildhall.
