By Henry Groves
Kicking off their sold-out UK tour in support of their debut album, ‘This Could Be Texas’, English Teacher was on the south coast in Brighton. I had last seen the band at The Great Escape in Brighton in 2023, and I was so excited to see them back, selling out Concorde 2.
You could tell the band were slightly nervous on their opening night, but quickly got into the swing of things, kicking off the set with ‘Albert Street’ and crowd favourite ‘R&B’. One thing that always impresses me with English Teacher is lead vocalist Lily Fontaine’s ability to go between singing and spoken word in their songs, and it always seems to fit perfectly. Her spoken word poetic style is often used to build up songs before she moves into her phenomenal vocals taking over. There is also no doubt that the band’s songwriting is truly incredible, and it becomes even more apparent during their live shows.
Even though this show was in support of their debut album release, it was still a nice surprise to hear them play the album in full. This isn’t done often by bands, with most setlists featuring a handful of older songs, but English Teachers were there to show off their debut LP. For me, they left out a number of personal favourites, but it didn’t matter at all. I’m throwing this out there early, but I would be shocked if ‘This Could Be Texas’ isn’t nominated for the Mercury Prize later this year (and loads of other awards), and to see this album in full was truly spectacular. ‘If we were to move south, we’d move here, it’s like Blackpool’ said Fontaine partway through the set which was met with a few joking jeers from the crowd. ‘We’ll play good music to win you round’ Fontaine followed up with, and this they did.
The atmosphere through the set was beautifully crafted by the band, especially through their more delicate and melancholy songs like ‘This Could Be Texas’ and ‘Albatross’. For the end of the set, they raised the tempo again with ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ and ‘Nearly Daffodils’ before exiting the stage. With their album completed, lots of the crowd started to exit the venue, and I wasn’t sure what the band had left to play, but with loud cheers from the crowd, they did return. They played one song in their encore, a cover of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’ which was performed as beautifully as the rest of the set, and despite me wanting ‘A55’ or ‘Mental Maths’, it was the perfect way to end such an incredible show.
Unfortunately, the rest of the tour is sold out for anyone without tickets, but if I were you, I would certainly be scouring Twickets repeatedly to get a ticket, as this is a tour you do not want to miss.
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