Live Review & Photo Gallery: Peace + Superfood @ The Rainbow Courtyard, Digbeth – 28/09/2014

Two years ago Peace had just released their EP Delicious to widespread praise and all eyes were on Birmingham. Right now Peace have an album under their belt, with another on the way and their contemporaries – Swim Deep, Jaws and Superfood – now have albums out or coming soon too. So it’s no surprise that when Peace announced an intimate free gig at The Rainbow’s Courtyard in the spirit of their 2012 Halloween show, you can almost feel the wave of nostalgia that swept over Birmingham like a rose-tinted tsunami fuelled by cheap Freddo’s and re-runs of Friends.

The atmosphere in the pub is electric as ticket-winners who were lucky enough to be at the first show recount their experiences, while those who weren’t talk excitedly about their expectations and ponder who on earth special guests ‘HEALTHYGRUB’ are. Those still somehow confounded by Peace’s wily ways have their answers swiftly answered in the form of Superfood. Love for this four-piece is all around, but it’s especially apparent tonight as they fill the small room with their take on Britpop.

Songs like TV, Bubbles and Melting get the warm reception that you’d expect at this point. However, it’s in the newer songs like Right On Satellite and Mood Bomb that they really shine. Superfood are a band that clearly put a lot of themselves into their music and it is incredibly rewarding to see that as they’ve progressed this hasn’t changed. As they round off their set with their iconic song Superfood and the previously calm crowd erupts, there’s no doubt that this band has captured the crowd from the very start. Quite the transformation from their appearance alongside Peace at that 2012 Halloween show.

Those left standing are kept dancing by the DJs until Peace to take to the stage. This may very well be the last time that Birmingham sees Peace play in such an intimate venue and the crowd are determined to make every moment count. Opening with the ever crowd-pleasing 1998 it’s clear that Peace know exactly what people want to hear as they drop immediately into Follow Baby in what is a great display of the power of nostalgia.

While it can be so easy to get lost in days gone by, Peace remind us that they haven’t been idle over these past couple of years with their infectious single, Money. Putting new songs like Lost On Me and World Pleasure up against old classics like California Daze, Wraith and Bloodshake has the potential to be awkward, but the faith that Birmingham has in this band to deliver is still strong  as new material is met with as much excitement as their tried and tested older material.

As the last bars of Float Forever drift off into the night the crowd are reminded just why Peace took off in the way that they did and are assured that their future is bound to be just as interesting and exciting.

Words: Matthew Burdon | Photos: Wayne Fox