The Most Feel-Good Band of 2024: Blossoms Live at Hammersmith Apollo

Blossoms spent Saturday night at a sold-out Hammersmith Apollo proving that they are the most fun band in indie music right now. From their brightly coloured, 70’s infused aesthetics to their almost child-like cheeriness, Blossoms’ performance was a spirit-lifter the whole way through.

After support from Overpass, a four-piece indie band from Birmingham, and Red Rum Club, a six-piece indie-rock band from Merseyside, the curtain fell to reveal a monochromatic, yellow stage. Everything, including the instruments, was a bright shade of yellow, the kind you might find in a 70’s kitchen. They came on stage at 9:10pm and started off the set with ‘Your Girlfriend’, a catchy tune that you can’t help but dance along to, making even the people in seats get up and move.

Their new album, ‘Gary’, was released on the 20th September this year and lead singer, Tom Ogden, admitted that they have been enjoying playing the songs live, which was more than clear throughout their London performance.

They played ‘What Can I Say After I’m Sorry’, an introspective song about personal wrongdoings with honest lyrics admitting that ‘I don’t believe I’ll ever find happiness’. These mellow lyrics are hidden away in an upbeat 80’s inspired, heavy bass backing track with a groovy keyboard riff, to which the band danced along to with a synchronised robot-style walk during the last chorus. 

Blossoms played a range of songs from their extensive discography, including crowd favourites ‘Honey Sweet’ and ‘If You Think This Is Real Life’, but the majority of their energy was reserved for their newest songs. 

‘Gary’ is their fifth album and the playfulness that Blossoms are renowned for has hit a new high in this recent release. They have the ability to turn the common and mundane experience of clubbing and queueing for way too long into an infectious disco tune with harmonies and 70’s inspired riffs. Their performance of ‘Nightclub’ included an LED sign of the song title and a retro phone as props, and an impromptu dance-come-conga by the band.

Ogden began ‘Big Star’, the album’s opening track, with a story-time of the song. He sat on stage and explained that he had eavesdropped on a conversation with a music journalist called Marvin. Ogden set the scene, telling the audience that the lights in the room were blue, and at a click of his fingers the on-stage lights changed from red to blue, and telling them that  the sun was coming through the window, to which yellow lights then beamed onto the stage. He explained that the song was inspired by overhearing Marvin telling someone that he could make them a big star, and Ogden admitted that he wanted to go over and introduce his band but, in the end, ‘bottled it’. ‘Big Star’ is a song with an undeniable boldness– it has many funky riffs and has traces of the glamour and daring of the 70's, both sonically and lyrically. 

For their encore Blossoms summoned the much-awaited Gary– the eight foot fibre-glass gorilla– and rolled him into a corner on-stage which was met with loud cheers from the crowd. With the gorilla watching over them, Blossoms played their title track, ‘Gary’, an upbeat song with 80’s synths and catchy guitar riffs which Josh Dewhurst played whilst sitting on Gary’s lap. The song is about a news headline Ogden had read about the gorilla statue being stolen from a garden centre who had been very sad to see him go. Despite this unconventional and incredibly unrelatable topic, the song was well-known and well-loved by the crowd who sang every word of it back to the band. 

They ended their set with their two most popular songs, ‘There’s a Reason Why’ and ‘Charlemegne’ with a jazzy instrumental to introduce each of the band members. Blossoms then left the stage, cementing their status as the most entertaining and feel-good band right now .