THE RIFLES + L D WILLIAMS – ST. PETER’S CHURCH, BRIGHTON 6.8.22
It was a rather different venue for Saturday night’s gig by Chingford’s The Rifles, namely a live set inside St Peter’s Church. For non-Brightonians who may not know, this is the main church in Brighton, which is being used for various The Jam related gigs and events for “This is the Modern World” exhibition. Having been joined on stage on previous tours by Paul Weller, they were an obvious choice for this exhibition.
The Rifles, formed back in 2004 after Joel Stoker and Lucas Crowther were both inspired by an Oasis concert the two attended in Knebworth. Their musical style is reminiscent of the 1980’s mod revival guitar sound and the indie rock.
Their debut album ‘No Love Lost’ was released in 2006 and initially reached No.68 in the UK Albums Chart. Their follow-up album, ‘Great Escape’, was released in 2009 and came in at No.27 in the UK chart. Their third album ‘Freedom Run’ was dropped back in 2011 and reached No.37. Its follow-up ‘None The Wiser’ was their highest charting release thus far when it reached No.21 in 2014. The band released their fifth studio album ‘Big Life’ two years later.
Back to Saturday’s night gig. Admittedly It wasn’t very busy, but their loyal fans loved it. Singing along to their favourite songs, and football style chants of “Rifles, Rifles” between songs. As well as the old favourites, there were newer songs in their set such as ‘Suicide’.
As is always the case, several parishioners headed to the bar for some liquid refreshment during the mid-set acoustic numbers. When will bands learn that when they inform the audience that “it’s time for some acoustic songs”, this basically equates to a green flag to “time to get the beers in!”
Back and refreshed for the third and final acoustic number, by which time the bass player and drummer also returned, many in the crowd carried on with the chorus of ‘Rock The Boat’ after the band finished the song repeating the lyric “beautiful music”.
The tempo and energy picked up again to the end of the set ending with ‘Local Boy’ and ‘Romeo & Julie’ with keyboard player Dean Mumford switching to harmonica.
I think keyboard player Dean Mumford was impressed by the surroundings, as he spent one song early in the set taking selfies and capturing the gig on his phone.
Overall, an entertaining and honest performance, helped by the great rapport between band and fans. If you missed them this time round, you won’t have long to wait for The Rifles’ next Brighton performance, which is part of The Mod Weekender at Komedia on 25th August 2022. Purchase your tickets HERE.
The Rifles consists of:
Joel Stoker (vocals, guitar)
Lucas Crowther (guitar, vocals)
Rob Pyne (bass guitar)
Grant Marsh (drums)
Dean Mumford (keyboard)
The Rifles setlist:
‘Heebie Jeebies’
‘When I’m Alone’
‘Suicide’
‘Minute Mile’
‘Great Escape’
‘Peace & Quiet’
‘Winter Calls’
‘Robin Hood’
‘Coming Home’
‘Spend A Lifetime’
‘Rock The Boat’
‘Moral Way’
‘You Win Some’
‘Out In The Past’
‘Local Boy’
‘Romeo & Julie’
Find out more about the band by visiting their Facebook page HERE and listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on SoundCloud HERE.
The support for The Rifles was provided by London based LD Williams (Luke Williams), a singer-songwriter with his acoustic guitar. His musical influences are 60s/70s/80s & 90s Britpop and it is his aim to rejuvenate the style and class of the MOD era! It was a decent set to start the evening’s entertainment.
Check out his material on his Soundcloud page HERE.
LD Williams setlist:
‘Better Man’
‘It Appears’
‘Out In The Cold’
‘Donut’
‘Picking Up The Pieces’
