Chesterfield’s The Crooks headlined The Water Rats for This Feeling this past Saturday. Copy we originally had penned in 2020. Four years on from the crushing despair of that tour cancellation hadn't caused a lack of interest, but it had caused trepidation.
*banner image credit: Charlie_green19 - Courtesy of the band.
In 2020, the buzz for the cancelled tour was off the scale. There was a clear sense of glory awaiting the band as, single after single, amassed legions of fans. In the build-up to Saturday, a lot of what-ifs lingered. What if their time had passed? What if the band and fans were not as one anymore?
We needn’t have worried.
The electrifying opening of ‘What You Know’ and ‘Silhouette Sunshine’ was a pulsating moment of release. The band are still us, we’re still them! Their time apart clearly left its mark, as there is a real sense of now or never. Rock ‘n’ roll needs this desperation to thrive, and the Water Rats faithfully needed it more.
On ‘In Time’, the band make the intimate room feel like Knebworth. Modders’ guitars on ‘In Time’ howled into the night like warning sirens of hope. Frontman Jacko, stepping off the gas to allow a cuter DMAs-esque vocal to offset the colossal-sized guitars to shine, confirmed that all “what ifs” can get in the bin.
Wave upon wave of euphoric emotion is packed in the set. ‘Nevermind spirals towards pure ecstasy, while ‘She Walks Alone’ took you into the emotional trenches and spat you out with King-sized belief in humanity again.
On ‘Better Days’, the band breathes, leaving Jacko to do something utterly magical. His vocals were blessed with the infectiousness of Tommy O’Dell (DMAs), the raw power of Tom Clarke (The Enemy), and Noel’s ability to make simple melodic twists sound like messages from God. This stripped-back moment was a moment for the lost. For rock n roll fans fed up with overpaying for the old guard to half arsing the past. This was about now! As he decreed, “We need to find our way again”, a collective sigh of relief oozed through the air. Being in the moment for something youthful, a spirit that wanted (and will) change the world, was spine-tingling.
You spend a lifetime waiting for bands to pull it all together, to have the look, the melody, the politics. Only when it appears in front of you do you realise that you allowed pretenders to take the throne in the intervening years. The Crooks are the real deal. They allow you to pour your dreams, heartache, and regrets into their chest out of a sense of working-class glory. This gig will be etched into the minds of all who were there. Triumphant, yes, but this felt like the beginning, not a crowning moment.