XCERTS and You Me At Six
UEA // Norwich, England // 25 February 2025
Photos and review by Stuart Peach
Almost a year after announcing their disbandment and plans for one final big hoorah with a massive tour – ‘The Final Nights of Six’, the iconic You Me at Six once again graced Norwich with their presence and a sold out show. The band played two nights at the LCR venue in Norwich – this was our photographer Stuart’s experience on night one.
XCERTS
Scottish rockers ‘The XCERTS’ played a smashing set to warm up for the night, the band have also been around for 20 years or so, this was strangely my first time seeing them despite being a fan for a good while now. The energy was perfect and the nostalgia of early 2000s alt UK rock really set the tone perfectly for the evening. Frontman Murray sounded note perfect live and I was happy to see the crowd packed from as soon as they came on stage (always show up for the supports)!
You Me At Six
Anticipation was electric as You Me at Six hit the stage, the band have amassed both a large discography over their 20 years and have done something that a lot of the 2000s UK rock bands have struggled to do – keep an active fan base and grown alongside their fans. An eclectic setlist made up of a perfect mix from the band’s albums featured some of their newer hits like ‘Beautiful Way’ and ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ but of course had to include their arguably biggest hit for us elder emos with ‘Save it for the Bedroom’. Hearing the songs from Sinners Never Sleep and Hold Me Down really hit hard for me, I’d gotten into the band when studying for my A-Levels all those years ago and those two albums were on my revising rotation.
The crowd held the energy through the night and sang along to the band’s hits and an impressive 22 song setlist. Bite My Tongue, Reckless and Underdog were a stacked set of choice for the encore, Bite My Tongue has been my favourite song of the bands for a long time now after hearing it in it’s full glory at Download 2010 with Oli Sykes jumping on stage for his feature. It was probably the loudest song from the crowd for the night in Norwich too but ‘Mixed Emotions’ really stood out for me as a fantastic sing-along from the Norfolk elder emos (even though our backs hurt and our Vans soles are all worn out).
Despite the band’s drummer Dan being unable to play for the show, the whole performance was perfect and what better way to kick off this massive tour than 2 nights back to back in Norwich surrounded by fans both old and new. You Me at Six have really been a staple of the UK scene since their inception and they will be sorely missed – see you at the reunion tour in a few years?
