Live review: Nothing But Thieves satisfy Bangkok with an exceptional fiery performance

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Back in August, British rockers Nothing But Thieves arrived here in Bangkok for the first time ever. And on this arrival, the 5-piece rock group has also brought with them the vehement rock performance which stunned and captured the attention of the people of this fast-paced Big Mango who were gathering together at Moonstar Studio on Thursday, August 2.

Brought to Bangkok by THE VERY COMPANY, Bangkok finally had the chance to experience the full live performance of the band who rose to fame with quality who are not from the 90’s but nowadays’ world.

Formed in 2012, Nothing But Thieves are an alternative rock band from Britain. The band consist 5 members— Conor Mason (vocals), Joe Langridge-Brown (guitar), Dominic Craik (guitar), Philip Blake (bass) and James Price (drums). The RCA-signed rockers rose to prominence with their fervent alternative rock sound and exceptional live performances. Their hit songs include “Wake Up Call“, “Trip Switch“, “If I Get High” and their recent single “Forever & Ever More“. Their musical style is reminiscent of the likes of Foals, The Neighbourhood, and Civil Twilight.

And here, tonight, folks in this hall were promised with all of those hits mentioned above alongside the pieces from Nothing But Thieves’ current studio effort Broken Machine.

The live concert tonight welcomed all the rock music fanatics firstly with two shows from the country’s very own rising rock talents Monomania and Mattnimare. Everything seemed to be good so far throughout the first act. However, unfortunately, there were some technical problems occurring during the second act. I had to admit that the situation spoiled me and the rest of the room.

The strange imbalance in sound system with the drums, bass and guitars occurred now and then throughout Mattnimare’s performance in which it clearly pissed the frontman off since his guitar sound went completely quiet at the middle of the performance. However, in the end, the band could still deliver the audience a good and professional show by shifting their performance from the abrasive rock sound to something more soft and calm, still sticking to rock genre though. We respected you, Mattnimare!

…And Hallelujah, people! Let’s give an applause to the technicians as they all finally fixed all the errors just in time for Nothing But Thieves. We know that the technicians tonight tried all the possible ways as hard as they could or else the show from the headliner of the night wouldn’t turn out this great.

Appearing on stage around 10pm, Nothing But Thieves kicked off their show with a song from their sophomore album Broken Machine— “I Was Just a Kid”. Even though this was just the beginning, this British rock band had already set the place on fire with their fiery roars from the instruments and the vocals.

The band, then, continued to stun the audience with “Number 13”, “Wake Up Call” and “Hostage” which Mason spiced up the intro by adding an adlib. The crowd was shaken by the part.

But for me, I was completely speechless when “Graveyard Whistling” took over the hall. Conor Mason blew the crowd’s minds away with his voice. He hit all notes perfectly like we were just listening to his voice straight out off the record. His voice was just beautiful and powerful. And together with the smooth yet strong melody, all the notes just swarmed the room with peaceful yet sorrowful tones. Anyway, this performance seemed to speak to the souls of the listeners tonight deeply somehow as everybody in the room just stood still quietly throughout the song.

For the most energetic moments of the night, I would vote for “Broken Machine”, “I’m Not Made by Design”, “Trip Switch”, and “Ban All the Music” as they fueled the atmosphere and fed the ears of the audience with the heavy and rousing roars from the instruments and vocals. Of course! There was moshing. Well, who could have resisted it though?!

Nothing But Thieves ended the night with three encore songs— “Lover, Please Stay”, “Itch” and “Amsterdam”.

As you would have imagined, “Lover, Please Stay” was an absolute tearjerker of the night. It was such a poignant performance which was not just for the performers but also the crowd. People went completely silent and let the song swarmed and swallowed them in emotionally.

As I have witnessed tonight. I, now, can see why the band always receive the positive feedback from every single they’ve released and why music critics acclaim them as one of the best of the nowadays’ rock band. And it’s not just only about how professional they are that has shaken me, but it’s also about the dynamic range in Mason’s vocal cords that is almost comparable to the opera singer. He seems to know the exceptional talent that he owns and he uses it wisely as it helps create the unique identity of Nothing But Thieves.

All in all, I was beyond delighted to get to see this such beautiful performance in my home country. This band’s performance is one of the performances that you should see it at least once in your lifetime.

Setlist

1. I Was Just a Kid
2. Number 13
3. Wake Up Call
4. Hostage
5. Soda
6. Graveyard Whistling
7. Broken Machine
8. I’m Not Made by Design
9. Live Like Animals
10. Particles
11. Trip Switch
12. Ban All the Music
13. If I Get High
14. Sorry
    Encore:
15. Lover, Please Stay
16. Itch
17. Amsterdam

Special thanks to THE VERY COMPANY.

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