Music / Reviews
Review: To Kill A King, Thekla – ‘A fun set’
I kicked off February by heading down to Thekla to celebrate ten years of To Kill A King’s Cannibals With Cutlery album (it’s actually eleven years but we’ll forgive them!).
To celebrate they’re back on tour for the first time in five years, performing tracks from mostly the eponymous album, along with a few surprises thrown in.
But first, the support act! Four-piece female vocalist fronted Fours hit the stage with plenty of energy, even with an out-of-breath lead singer who confessed to barely making it to the venue.
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They played a set of catchy indie rock bangers during their half-hour. Great solo work on the lead guitar, passionate vocals and a fun cover of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac were the set’s highlights.
To Kill A King was next up, launching into the whole of their debut album in order, which I thought was quite an unusual way to do it. The tracks in album order led to a weird mix in terms of the song order, with the vibe of the set changing at odd times.
For example, a track which I thought was being performed as the big finisher actually came two before the end, leading to a bit of an anti-climactic end.
I think the night’s biggest surprise came when they invited Edith from Fours and their ‘tour manager with an amazing voice’ onto the stage.
I whispered to my friend ‘Is that Dan from Bastille?’ And it was him! Dan, Edith and To Kill A King sang a rousing rendition of one of their tracks which was truly an iconic, crowd-pleaser!
As a fresh new fan, I thought the setlist needed work, but the reception from the audience clearly showed they were delivering something for those who had been with them for the long haul.
Overall To Kill A King performed a fun set, which switched between genres quite regularly to keep things fresh.
We got a bit of country, indie, rock and acoustic that got the audience singing along regularly to celebrate the tenth anniversary of this album.
Main photo: Kyran Wood
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