Hot off the back of the release of their latest single, Second City Sin took to the stage of O2 Institute 3 Birmingham for their first headline performance.

Launching into ‘Beauty of Innuendo’ as usual, its punchy, rhythmic intro and anthemic chorus make it easy to see why this is the band’s go-to opener.
‘Beauty of Innuendo’ was swiftly followed by new release ‘Morose’. Second City’s second single, ‘Morose’ builds on Under The Landslide (reviewed here), to showcase a darker and grittier dimension. Produced by Gavin Monaghan (Robert Plant, Editors, Kid Kapichi), the influence of rock and metal heavy-hitters is evident. Grief-wracked instrumentals from the perspective of Chaz Carr on guitar and a delightfully forward baseline from Neva Bevan on bass guitar provide the perfect anchor for Tyler Quantrill’s lyrics, describing an autobiographical ongoing mental health battle that combine themes of helplessness and hope. The gang vocals outro of ‘the petals fall’ brings together the whole band to create a real feeling of attitude. In a live setting, this is only bolstered by the crowd.

With frontman and vocalist Tyler battling sinusitis on the night, the band were accompanied by special guest, Faye Barry, on backing vocals. Faye came into her own with her feature on ‘Auditory Hell’, stepping forward from the darkness of stage-left to command the room with powerful vocals, her tone playing off the deeper and raspier vocals of Quantrill to create real push-and-pull. This was followed by an almost immediate change in energy with slower track ‘Sands of Time Down The Drain’, creating a more dramatic and pensive atmosphere.

Faye Barry appearing as a special guest to perform with Second City Sin at O2 Institute 3

The set continued in true Second City fashion, swinging between the heights of pop-rock and nostalgic anthem-rock, and the depths of their punk, blues, grunge and metal inspirations. If you’re not already familiar with Second City Sin, you may be surprised when the lead vocalist and rhythm guitar player decides to climb onto the crowd barrier, but no one in the crowd was surprised when Tyler stood face to face with the front rows for ‘Hanging on Haywire’, nor when he took it one step further and sat on the edge of the barrier to lean back into the arms of crowd and sing along with them. Not one to be easily outdone, the ante upped again with the outro for ‘Sertraline’ performed quite literally into the crowd from the barrier.

Deviating from the precedent of previous performances, the band performed their rearrangement of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ which debuted just a month earlier at their first Northampton gig. With Chaz mimicking the melody of the backing vocals with fluid riffs to create a call and response, the subtle reorganisation of the drums and bass and Tyler’s altered emphasis on the chorus, the band really makes this 2000s club classic their own.

Ending the night with debut single ‘Under The Landslide’, this performance surely was a demonstration of the very best of Second City Sin.