1,244 SPORTS TEAM, Bristol Rough Trade Records, Sunday 25th September 2022

 

(Not my list - courtesy of the chap behind us in the signing queue - drop me a comment and I'll give you a namecheck, young man!)

even later call for this one! Rising stars and barnstorming post-millennial indie rockers Sports Team had impressed mightily at last month’s Victorious Festival (gig 1,240) with a set replete with “spritely spunky youthful spunky spriteliness” (I know, bloody articulate, me!), putting them firmly on our radar. Unfortunately, their forthcoming, primarily O2 Academy-based, jaunt in support of sophomore album “Gulp!” fell right in the middle of an already-hectic October, their closest gigs to the ‘don clashing with other arrangements. Also, this enticing Bristol Rough Trade in-store and signing sesh had already long-sold out by this time. Bah! Serves me right for being late to the party for this lot, I mused as I absent-mindedly put my name down on the waiting list… a decision that ultimately paid dividends, as I got a text whilst sitting down for lunch today, saying a couple of tix had become available and were being reserved for a brief time. Result! I snapped them up toot sweet, and made plans for an unexpected evening’s rock…

 Drove an enthusiastic Logan down the M4 just before 6, parking up and joining the long queue to get in; a hotly anticipated one, this, no messin’… despite that, we grabbed our free CDs and headed into the small back room venue, pitching up only a couple of rows from the front, house right. Nice! Chatted with a mum who’d brought her lad along too – he was only 8, which brought back memories of when I started taking my now 15-year old and much taller young man to gigs! Gig mates Andy and Mandy unexpectedly turned up as well, so the time passed swiftly before Sports Team joined us; diminutive keyboardist Ben Mack first, setting off a synth pulse dancebeat, then the rest of this 6-piece band somehow squeezed onstage, towering vocalist Alex Rice deadpanning, “that’s the first track!” as the synth beat faded.

 
We were then however straight into new album opener “The Game”, with Sports Team, as Suede did last Sunday (gig 1,242), mostly concentrating on their new material for this 45 minute “vignette” of a set. And also like Suede, they impressed from the off with a dynamic, raucous and rambunctious performance of said bright, bouncy and upbeat new numbers. Veering a little away from the slightly tinny, Strokes-like dynamics which seemed to permeate their debut “Deep Down Happy” (on the couple of listens I’ve given it recently, at least!), the “Gulp!” numbers are more immediate, with some brain-hugging shout-along, fists-aloft anthemic choruses and hooks at their core. And in young Mr. Rice, they have a very impressive frontman, his expansive young Julian Cope-like swagger keeping him just the right side of arrogance, leaning into the baying crowd and firing out homespun lyrical vignettes with the nasal brashness of Figgs/ Gentlemen singer Mike Gent (a bit of a niche reference there, but sorry, that’s who popped into my head!).

 Following “The Drop”’s dramatic sleazoid hook, the gregarious Alex asked the crowd, “who are we up against in the charts?” eliciting a horde of catcalling feedback; then, to cheers, Sports Team delved back for oldie “M5”, which featured a itchy, descending verse beat similar to Violent Femmes’ classic “Gone Daddy Gone” and a huge chorus. By this time I’d lost Logan to the mosh, but could occasionally pick out glimpses of him in there, singing away at the top of his lungs. Proud dad moment, hashtag myworkhereisdone. etc… The Woodentopsy rockabilly beat of “Unstuck” segued into an infectiously groovy “R Entertainment”, before “Happy” saw a circle pit emerge, Logan sensibly keeping to its peripheries. Then, before the knockabout melody and flippant, raucous energy of set closer “Here’s The Thing”, Alex announced he was trying to get rid of their old car (a Piagi?) “because the door comes off!”, a front-row punter offering to swap his own Peugeot 107 for it! A slightly bizarre way to end a fun set; hardly ground-breaking, envelope-pushing or cutting edge, this is just honest upbeat indie rock which stands or falls on the tunes. Good thing then that Sports Team have those in brass bucketfuls. And clearly Logan, particularly, loved it!

 

Just missed out on a list (all promised elsewhere), but we then queued up next to a couple of young fans, including a chap who at 20 was already keeping records of all his gigs. Keep it up, young man! Eventually met the band for pix and brief chats (centring around Logan’s gig history and my wife’s lasagne, oddly enough!), leaving them for a swift drive home with a salient comment, evidenced by Logan’s disappearance into the mosh; “for the last 7 years I’ve been bringing my son to see my bands… tonight it looks as if he may have found his band!”