Taking Hayley returns to the O2 Academy 2 Islington
It has been two years since Taking Hayley formed in Birmingham and in that time they have travelled across the UK playing gig after gig and meeting some of their fans along the way. Their Tricks and Games tour recently made a stop at the O2 Academy 2 Islington and the night went off with a bang!
When these guys play it is very difficult to keep yourself in one position. Their music is enticing, edging you on to sing, bop or lose complete control of your sense of stability as it did for some young girls in the crowd. Each and every track that is performed live by these lads is jammed with energy, powerful riffs and emotional vocals. On songs such as Tonight (We Come Alive) the band encouraged crowd participation through harmonising and clapping and got quite a response back. Although tracks like the ever popular Up All Night resulted in the young girls in the crowd screaming and jumping along, it was Taking Hayley's rendition of Earthquake by Labrinth ft. Tini Tempah that made the room explode with enthusiasm for the music. When they perform this cover in particular, they make you forget the original completely and only have ears for this rendering.
One particular performance for this evening set was rather astonishing. Taking Hayley was able to demonstrate they can be quite mellow at times with lead vocalist Alistair Keenan taking to the keyboards to perform a new version of Crying Eyes. This moment of softness lead the crowd into becoming silent for the better part of the track, really taking in the words and emotion coming across on this song.
Whenever Taking Hayley takes to the stage you know things are going to get wild and this set was no exception; they explode into full blown rock out party performances which results in their set being brilliant!