NEW YEARS DAY is a Californian rock band who originally started out on MySpace (remember that?).

They are now on a headlining tour around the UK and Europe and we caught them at their last UK show at The Fleece in Bristol. They previously played here back in 2016 when they supported MOTIONLESS IN WHITE.

Last year, they released their 5th studio album, Unbreakable and are due to go on tour with HALESTORM later this year.

I felt weird going into The Fleece to see the band as I used to be heavily into this genre of music during my teen years; so it felt somewhat nostalgic. I felt as though I might be judged, as if I didn’t ‘belong’ but as I entered I felt more at ease. It was already jammed packed when I arrived, full of devoted fans which is no surprise as tonight was their first official sold out show of the tour. 

As the band took to the stage, a wave of screams almost deafened me. Ash Costello came on last and was taken back by the amount of support. From the first song (Come With Me) the band had clearly blown away the venue (including me).

As the show progressed, it was clear something was wrong though as Ash kept nipping over to the side of the stage during musical interludes. She then stopped the show to explain that there were technical difficulties meaning she couldn’t hear herself. She looked quite sad, as though she has a lot of love for her fans; at one point even saying she wishes she could kiss each person in the room. The band were debating cutting a few songs but agreed to continue playing, I thought this was really admirable and I’m sure the room agreed with me!

Some stand out moments for me were when they played ‘Gangsta’ and ‘Shut Up’, the crowd gave back so much energy to the band during these tracks, it was amazing to witness. I enjoyed hearing some of their new material from their latest album  which seamlessly mixed with their older songs. Towards the end of the show, Ash even got into the crowd to sing along with all of her adoring fans. 

I walked into the show worried that it wasn’t going to be what I’d expected and that I wasn’t going to enjoy it but I was wrong, so very wrong! I half expected a rowdy crowd, slam dancing and throwing me around in the pit but everyone there was so supportive of a young photographer, cutting her teeth on the live circuit. The atmosphere was great, I expected some heavy moshing during some songs but everyone managed to keep a lid on things which made the whole experience even nicer.

To sum up the gig, New Years Day put on an amazing show and it was refreshing to see that the band and audience gave 110% each, which is something you rarely see these days!

The band are playing a few European dates before heading out to Australia and returning to the USA for a ton of live shows.

Words and Pictures by Megan Barnett