More often than not, I attend gigs because I’ve been commissioned or fortunately given press access to review them. As a little treat to myself this week, I went to Halifax’s sun-bleached Piece Hall to see The War On Drugs and Warpaint. I was there to soak up the atmosphere like a sponge, to the fullest. And that I did. So this write-up will be short and sweet.

Although the headline act, The War On Drugs, were superbly electric from the second they sprang on stage, opening with the achingly transcendent ‘Pain’, it may come as hardly surprising that I was there mainly for the support act. Dusk was attempting to sweep across the still-warm city as the jangly, guitar-led, synth-studded main event showed how much of a powerhouse outfit they were, so I was grateful to get to see TWOD. But Warpaint were the real deal for me…

By starting with ‘Champion’, then an absolutely huge ‘Undertow’ chaser, they demonstrated just how strong a set was to come. On-point, ethereal harmonies and those signature bass rumbles were the common denominators throughout, whether it was one of their newer offerings, such as ‘Hips’, or the oldest-of-old, ‘Bees’. 

These four females, combined, epitomise edgy; they’re the original cool girl band, after all. And in that moment, the rays still flooding the site, I could’ve slipped back into my teenage self without a trace; bopping along to their first EP in my just-as-scorching attic room. What a night for summer solstice, and what a show to witness. It had only been 15 years in the making for former me…