Young Guns in Milton Keynes – Live Music Review
Things have certainly been a bit more eventful than anticipated for rock band Young Guns from the morning they were scheduled to be in Milton Keynes.
The band had been meant to visit MK11 in October, but plans had to be skedaddled after a wide variety of gear was stolen from them in Leeds the night before. But there’s more on it than this show being a make-up date, with drummer Ben Joliffe quitting the band ahead of this tour. A stand-in drummer takes the sticks – after 3 days of rehearsals, according to frontman Gus Wood.
Ahead of the Slam Dunk Festival, a series of gigs in Camden and an appearance on the Vans Warped Tour, this is technically the first show on the run for the new album tour, with the band confirming on both social media and on stage a new LP has been written with intent to release later this year.
For Young Guns and numerous fans, however, the evening begins in a more relaxed style across town, with Wood and guitarist John Taylor mosying on up at the centre:mk Dr. Martens’ store to do an acoustic set. There’s a fainter air of nerves here, with Wood saying they didn’t do many of these, but the in-store goes nicely and the fans are very appreciative.
Two of the tunes appear at both sets – Gravity and Infinity – and its a credit to the songwriting that the lyrics and core instrumentals functions both in the stripped back and more gentile acoustic setting and then also work, some 4 or 5 hours later, in the fully-fledged version with crashing bass and drums aimed square at the moshpit. It is perhaps needless to say said moshpit duly obliges.
The show is heavy on 2015’s Ones and Zeroes, but the band do oblige a few deeper cuts along the way. Late bursts of Winter Kiss and Bones certainly provides an opportunity for those familiar with the older material to yelp and bounce along, even if early single Weight of the World doesn’t make the cut.
The whole thing ends with perhaps the best received song of the night, with the crowd pogoing and lustily singing the refrain of I Want Out – something they could well’ve continued doing long after the curfew.
All in all, despite the problems and change away from the stage, the band have returned in flying form. There’s a proficiency in their playing armed with a troupe of great quality songs, and those who will have attended one or both of these affairs will certainly have gotten the desired bang for their buck.