Narc. Magazine Online
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Matthew McDonnell enjoys a night of urgent and relentless anthems
Image: Porridge Radio by Steve Gullick
With a name like Porridge Radio, you may be surprised to learn how dark, brooding and – perhaps most unexpectedly – sincere their music is. All of these reasons made the aptly named Glasshouse Red Spider Mite the perfect band to set the stage, delivering haunting melodies and driving bass riffs. This was a slowcore band that’d done their homework, their music was as beautiful as it was calculated. It was clear to me this was a band not trying to show off but serve the songs and within that restraint was an understated yet undeniable elegance.
With the stage set, Porridge Radio were a perfect contrast to the relatively sedate Glasshouse Red Spider Mite. Urgent and restless, they tore through their set with the crowd growing more excited with each song. Anybody was a standout song for me, growing slowly from a simple keyboard melody before swelling into an anthemic chorus that had the whole crowd singing along. The encore was equally enchanting, they had the crowd in the palm of their hand with a seamless string of pop-rock gems like Sweet, 7 Seconds and Back To The Radio.
Ultimately the beauty lies in the simplicity of Porridge Radio’s music, perfectly polished they hit straight through the heart with a sort of defiant joy (in spite of their often sombre lyrics). I’d challenge you to find someone in the room that night whose spirit didn’t leave a little lighter than when they arrived.
