All Images Subject To Copyright
It’s a funny story how I discovered Sea Girls. I was driving along the narrow roads between Betws-y-Coed and Bala in the summer of 2021. My playlist had come to an end and there was nowhere to pull over in sight. Spotify began to play my recommended songs – which never seem to be of any interest to me – when ‘All I Want to Hear You Say’ came on.
In the coming months, I became completely infatuated with the song – I’d listen to it in the shower; when walking around; before I went to sleep. It was like nothing I’d really heard before and I loved it.
The London-based band sold out Cardiff Uni Great Hall on Tuesday evening, with a crowd of varied ages and genders hanging onto every word they sang and every chord they struck.
Lauran Hibberd, whose monthly listeners on Spotify equate to 88,000 at the time of writing, opened for the band. Her charismatic approach got the crowd engaged, while her stage presence demanded the attention. ‘Average Joe’ off her 2022 album ‘Garageband Superstar’ was the standout anthem.
The four-piece indie-rock band opened with 2019 single ‘Damage Done’ and followed up with ‘Lucky’ off their 2022 album ‘Homesick’ before addressing the crowd for the first time to the pandemonium of onlookers.
It was the first time I’ve been to a gig and seen the majority of the crowd being loyal supporters. You couldn’t move for Sea Girls t-shirts and people screaming as they recognise the next song from the first chord played.
Captivating frontman Henry Camamile was idolised by the flock of avid supporters, who repeated most lyrics back to him. Lead guitarist Rory Young danced around the stage as though he was one of the crowd members.
Arguably the most entertaining sequence of tracks were ‘Violent’, ‘Lonely’, ‘Sick’ and ‘Do You Really Wanna Know’, with each song gaining greater reaction than the last.
Their encore included ‘Daisy Daisy’, ‘All I Want to Hear You Say’ and ‘Call Me Out’, ending with their two most popular songs in true indie-rock band fashion.
If you haven’t witnessed one of their shows live, I’d really recommend you do. Their variety of melodic, dancey and mosh-pit-worthy songs is fantastic and I’m sure people of all ages would have a great time.
