aaamusic | On 04, Sep 2014

Thursday 28^th August, Cardiff

Glass Giants are a five-piece band from Cardiff, South Wales, with a pop-rock feel, who have just released their newest EP Cocktails & Bikinis. Having previously received Kerrang airplay and TV time for one of their singles, alongside supporting McBusted, Glass Giants are definitely ones to look out for in the future.

First up tonight are Falling With Style with an acoustic set played well throughout, with Scott and Ryan’s acoustic guitars not being overshadowed by the strong vocals from Lucas. You can tell that when a band plays this well acoustically at they can smash it on a usual day. Continuing with the acoustic sets, next up is Deri Morgan who is able to be easily heard throughout the room despite having soft vocals and he manages to perform very well despite the ignorance of the crowd, which every artist must endure at some point in their career. One of the main focal points of his set was his rendition of Nizlopi’s ‘JCB song’, which he managed to sing brilliantly with guitar work to match.

Fire Fences are next to grace the stage and they do so perfectly, breaking into their songs with Lee Davies taking centre-stage for his extravagant drumming, but it wasn’t until ‘Nobody’s Home’ was played that the real strengths of the band were shown, with showed the mastery of their art. Again, drummer Lee came out with lead singer Aaron, powering through each and every one of his songs despite having caught “Reading Flu”.

Adding a bit of difference to the lineup is Breathe In The Silence – by managing to mix their harsh and clean vocals nicely, plus the overall energetic performance of the band (which included climbing on top of tables), the crowd were given one hell of a show. Even more so since the last time I saw them live they have massively improved, with an even sleeker finish to the set that completes the look which will carry them even further; it would make someone who has never seen them think twice before walking away, especially with the addition of their own effective strobe lights. They were very well received, even though they are from South Wales, with a lot of the crowd squeezing up to the front to shout the lyrics back at them. These guys are definitely ones to watch for the future as they are rising fast in the South Wales music scene and they are not looking at stopping there.

Last but not least are Glass Giants. The reason everyone is here for their EP release, Cocktails and Bikinis. Their set is perfectly executed throughout, with the addition of inflatable palm trees and beach balls to help them. It wasn’t until they performed their own rendition of Pharrell Williams ‘Happy’ that the fun kicked off, with the band and crowd throwing the beach balls around the room – another dynamic that similar bands just don’t include in their set, often completely missing out on the interaction with their fans. Already with a large following in the room, mostly with calls for their guitarist Alyn, and rightly so with Glass Giants blasting through their set without any problems and creating an even larger need to buy their EP – even though released only recently, the crowd love every song played from it and Ross Dixon’s voice comes out on top, having the vocal range and power that has allowed them to create this great, second EP, as well the ability to maintain a TV and radio presence.

Review + Photos: Sean Shore