Live Review: Nothing But Thieves in La Riviera, Spain 01/03/24

Nothing But Thieves conclude their European tour in Madrid, Spain, in a blazing sold-out show.

REVIEWSLIVE SHOWCONCERTSINDIE ROCK

REYA CASAJUS

3/13/20243 min read

After their fourth album ‘Dead Club City’ was released in July 2023, the Essex alt-rock band Nothing But Thieves set out for a tour around the US and Europe, closing the tour off with a sold-out show at La Riviera in Madrid, Spain.

First on is the Valencia-born band Niños Bravos. They don’t do charm but rely instead on the catchiness of their songs and the crowd cheering the lyrics to do the job, which isn’t half bad. There might be some potential, although I can't help but think that the lead singer's voice might be better suited for other genres, and he should be the one singing at all times. Nothing But Thieves are next.

Their newest album Dead Club City explores a dystopian era, centred around the narrative of a club, a sort of cult who lives there. Before the band took the stage, the ‘Dead Club City Radio’ set the tone for the night, a radio presenter introducing classic songs like ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and advertising merch in a satirical-esque comment on consumerism and the sense of belonging. ABBA’s ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!’ is the prelude to the band’s entrance, right before the first song of the set, Welcome to the DCC. Red lights cover the scene as the excited crowd jumps to the song. Is Everybody Going Crazy? follows, and I’m glad a section of the crowd keeps the jumping alive all the way to Tomorrow Is Closed.

The keyboard shines in Broken Machine, and the pace slows down with Real Love Song. City Haunts is the song in charge of bringing the rhythm back into the show, vocalist Conor Mason’s falsetto shining through the bridge in an all-out-80s way. Then, the band takes it back to their beginning with the first album single Drawing Pins, a song where guitars build tension up to fall into Sorry, whose chorus provokes the first mass singing of the night. It feels for a heartbeat that every single person in the room is singing along, a spell that is maintained during Do You Love Me Yet?, the synth-pop-infused song that prepares the crowd for the mix of Ce n’est Rien / Gods / Number 13.

Their post-hardcore influences reveal themselves here. The instrumentals grow heavier as Mason showcases his vocal abilities, proving that he can do screams and clean vocals interchangeably.

This is indubitably the point where the crowd is at its best: jumps, pushes, cheers —yet no mosh pits, which are sometimes common in their shows, and missed at La Riviera. Unperson maintains the built-up intensity with a choir of screams that echo the lyrics “this is not what you think it is, it’s worse!”, while Phobia fails to keep the hype as high, yet it manages to hold enthusiasm for what’s to come.

Conor Mason tells us that the next song was the one that kickstarted Nothing But Thieves, Lover, Please Stay, the well-written ballad that serves for Mason to deliver some of his best vocals of the night. He then takes the chance to dedicate the next song, Trip Switch, to a fan attending her 101th Nothing But Thieves concert tonight. The heavy riffs of Futureproof lift the rhythm only for it to slow down once more with Impossible as phone lanterns fill the venue. Pop The Balloon is the last track before they exit the stage.

They’re soon back for the encore, applause bleeding into the intro of Oh No: He Said What?, a vibey, catchy track that greatly exemplifies the direction they’ve gone with their latest single, released in January. Amsterdam comes next, perhaps crowning itself with the title of the most-screamed song of the night. They close with Overcome, its pulsating beat mixing well with the euphoric atmosphere created during the almost 90 minutes of the show.