On a cold Wednesday night, Amber Run were anything but frozen during their set in Stylus. Opening with an “oldie” as lead singer, Joe Leogh, calmly put it, ‘Spark’ certainly ignited attention from the modestly sized audience.

Seamlessly combining songs from both 5AM and their recent release For a Moment, I Was Lost, the crowd were spoilt with a range of 17 different tracks squeezed into just over an hour. It was refreshing to see how humbled the band were towards their supporters, sharing moments of emotion and hardship between songs, confessing that ‘Haze’ is a product of their unforeseen 14-month struggle.

Playing as a cohesive unit, Amber Run were effortlessly able to change the mood of the room in a single note, from sombre reflection to a sing-along favourite like ‘Noah’, prolonging the song’s ending and using the choral voice of the crowd to do it. As a member of the audience, the concert definitely felt the right balance between crowd and  band, the energy that we gave was no doubt reciprocated by the passionate five some. The charming frontman was never afraid to interact with individual, and particularly vocal, members of the audience, proving comical and carefree in his approachable attitude.

As the gig drew to a close, the band teasingly went off before an encore of ‘I Found’ and ‘No Answers’. This ending seemed a perfect combination of old and new, whilst showing how their personal signature on music has evolved. But the best part of it all? During the entire evening, they showed genuine gratitude and almost misbelief at being where they are today; something rarely found amidst our often arrogant music industry.

Rosa Sawer

[image: The Upcoming]