It was a cold Sunday night, not as cold as it had been when Storm Emma was driving hard from the East but even so, I was cold….I had been invited along to the Camden Assembly to catch a Manchester based alt-pop quintet called Y.O.U.N.G.

Sunday night shows aren’t usually possible as I am often travelling, but this weekend (thanks to the dreadful weather conditions) I was forced to remain in our nation’s capital and by Sunday tea-time, I was itching to get out of the apartment and catch some live music.

Having formed only in early 2017, I wasn’t expecting a large crowd but imagine my surprise as I walked into the upstairs room at the Camden Assembly and was greeted by loads of people who had made the trip out to catch the band’s set.

Y.O.U.N.G draw on influences such as rap, ska, rock and pop and these featured heavily in their music, Ben James (keys/vocals) split his time behind the keyboard and taking on the duty of frontman whilst the rest of the band did a fantastic job of holding it together. 

The energy these guys gave off was infectious and it wasn’t long until they won over this London crowd and had them bobbing along to their agreeable blend of tones.

I spotted a BBC Radio 2 celebrity (Jeremy Vine) in the audience, I did wonder what he was doing there and towards the end of the set, he was invited up on stage to play drums on one of their songs, it appears that he is a BIG fan of the band and having heard they were on tour, decided to drop in and catch their set.

Rather than leaving the stage only to pile back on again 30 seconds later, they remained where they were and ran through their final track of the evening which resulted in rapturous applause from the healthy audience.

All in all, a highly polished set, performed by 5 talented, passionate musicians and whilst tonight sees them play the final date of their LAZY tour in Manchester, I think you can safely say that it won’t be that long until these guys find themselves playing to larger audiences in the capital. I dare say they’ll also be appearing at a bunch of Summer festivals, check their social media for more information, you’d be a fool not to.

Words and pictures by Steve Muscutt