Music > Live Reviews

Blossoms

The Nick Rayns LCR, UEA

12/11/24

 There back, Blossoms from Stockport are back in the wonderful City of Norwich and as ever it’s as warm, memorable, and pleasurable as their previous visits. They are such a delight to watch, a truly stylish and damn right classy outfit. Nice lads too, plus one very talented young lady (in Colette Williams). They just always look so fine, dapper, and yeah, I’ll say it, damn right sexy-cool too!

The perfect vibe is emanating around the sell-out crowd in the LCR just now. Its absolutely rammed to the rafters in here, which makes viewing extremely challenging. 

Some five albums in now and they are in full on cruise control, I don’t mean that they are cruising musically and making bad music in the process, far from it (the new album is quite possibly their best yet?), they are just on it. This is a very well drilled machine in motion that we are witnessing here tonight.

The setlist is wide and varied from across those five albums, fan favourites such as Your Girlfriend, Get Away, The Keeper, Honey Sweet, At Most a Kiss and Charlemagne all help to up the noise levels even more, while a simmered down acoustic version of Favourite Room see’s both band and audience engage in a very intimate sing a long. It’s really quite a beautiful ‘Blossoms’ moment. 

The thing is that these lads can pull off a killer show just anywhere, right? The Wembley Stadium, Carrow Road and UEA LCR crowds can more than vouch for that from their gigs that I have witnessed. 

They ooze class and charisma, also appearing to be in this very much as a collective. I can’t remember a band in recent times that appears to engage with one another so much during a performance, there’s a lot going on all of the time as they breeze through their nineteen song setlist and they are very clearly having as much fun and enjoyment as we are. 

The by now famous Gary the gorilla gets wheeled out during the encore to rapturous applause for the title track, also called Gary! I wonder if any other band in the history of rock / pop music has ever named an album after any other fibre glass animals?

The new songs blend in perfectly and the crowd, just like the band are well rehearsed for What Can I Say After I’m Sorry, Perfect Me, If You Think This Is Real Life, Nightclub, Mothers, Big Star, There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) and I Like Your Look.

Favourite gigs, special gig nights like this live long in the memory bank in the years to come. 

It’s a seriously uplifting event on this very fine Monday and that is not an easy thing to do at this stage of a working week. 

Were you there when Blossoms came down and smashed it out of the park in 2024? I think many a gig goer will be reflecting on tonight’s performance in the years to come.

Heap the praise, because they deserve every bit of it that is thrown in their direction.

I cannot wait until we meet again, sometime soon, I hope. Blossoms are welcome round here anytime.

(They will be supporting the Stereophonics at the Sandringham Estate on the 16th of August 2025)