As a Brighton based band, I’ve seen Lime Garden grow from a small local support to small venue headline shows and now to their spectacular hometown headline at Chalk! In support of their debut album, the four piece have been travelling around the country, with their UK tour concluding in their hometown for a massive show.
By the time Lime Garden came on, Chalk was jam packed with excited fans ready to hear the new album live (although I am sure there were lots who had seen their Resident instore show a few weeks ago).
From the first notes of opener ‘Bitter’ the crowd erupted, as the band took to the stage. Then from the very first line, the crowd were singing along and dancing and I’m not sure they stopped for the entire show. There was a particular group behind me who got louder and livelier with every song, clearly showing the love that Brighton has for the band.
Lime Garden have made a name for themselves for releasing incredible indie-rock/pop tunes, but with their album, they showed their ability to not only write incredible indie hits but also a more open and personal songwriting style in ‘Pine’ and ‘It’. The album was a truly incredible release and seeing it live was even more amazing! They worked the crowd up with their opening songs, getting them dancing and bouncing with ‘Bitter’, ‘Pop Star’ and ‘Sick & Tired’ before bringing the tempo down. The atmosphere almost flipped from a raucous and energetic crowd to one simply watching in awe. It was a truly mesmerising moment, seeing the new side to the band come to life, live on stage and the audience stay as invested as they had at the start.
As they played through their set, they started to pick the tempo back up and almost immediately the crowd were back moving, and with more velocity than the start.
It is rare that bands, especially those with such loved early singles, play so much of their album. With the 9/10 songs making the setlist it truly was a showcase for their excellent debut. It is even rarer that crowds keep their focus as much as the Lime Garden crowd did, looking longingly to the stage to see what they would play next.
Their set ended with ‘Love Song’, ‘I Want To Be You’ and ‘Clockwork’ before they exited the stage. However, within seconds of the band even removing their instruments big cheers came urging the band to continue playing, and did not let off for the entire time they were off stage.
The band returned to play 2 more songs, including their debut single released back in 2020, ‘Surf n Turf’ which as usual got the crowd somehow even more lively with large numbers of fans screaming the lyrics back at the band.
I have seen Lime Garden a number of times, but this one was truly special. Showing off a band that have worked incredibly hard to get where they are now, having released their debut album and are still playing flawless live shows. “See you next year at the (Brighton) Dome” lead singer Chloe exclaimed midway through their set. But with shows as phenomenal as the one they have just played, I would be surprised to see them playing much larger venues in the very near future.
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