Touts and Vistas – Thousand Island 17/10/17
Thousand Island sits above the Islington Garage, a hidden gem of a venue, ceiling decorated with countless disco balls and a perfect sized space that allows room for bands starting out in their career and the manic audience that comes with them.
A co-headline tour between Touts and Vistas saw the two bands playing the stage on 17 th October 2017. Scottish indie-rock band Vistas kicked off the night with the lead single on their debut EP Medicine and went onto provide the audience with a warm, flowing set that brought back that summer time feeling, brightening up that dreary October night.
Throughout their set the audience were dancing along and ravishing in the up-beat, heart-warming music that was filling the room. Vistas single Sign Language was particularly an audience favourite, a cute and clever love song that evoked similarities to Circa Waves and even The Strokes. The bands strong Scottish accents could be heard through each song, something that you couldn’t help but smile at and also gave the bands music a unique and incandescent sound.
They finished their set with Retrospect, a soon to be released single, before giving the room a humble, possibly even shy thank you, smiling at the praise received and packing up their equipment with the knowledge they had made their impact on the audience who could be overheard singing random lines of Vistas songs under their breath while stumbling over to the bar, preparing themselves for the soon to be carnage of Touts.
Touts, a young Irish, politically driven, rock band, crashed into their set, opening with Stay off from their debut EP Sickening & Deplorable, sending a blitz of energy into the crowd, watching as a group at the front quickly came together to form a mosh pit that continued all the way through their set. Each song seemed to get louder and
bolder, and the audience ate it all up, shouting along to band, not caring if they were getting the lyrics wrong. “Go on ya fucking cunts,” an audience member could be heard yelling, a way of proclaiming his love for the lads, while another audience member exclaimed in laughter about his broken glasses, a results of the crazed pits that had taken over, which in true Touts form was really the only way to respond to their music. The bands screamed into their microphones with songs such as Go Fuck Yourself and Bombscare, encouraging the ruckus nature of the crowd but still managing to keep it together, and showed true vocal talent during (The Auld Triangle) Political People, starting off the song acapella, before launching into heavy guitar riffs and pounding drums. Their set gave a platform for people of all ages, male and female, to join together and create something insane, but also beautiful and it was clear that Touts loved every single moment.
As their set came to a close, audience members could be heard noting the ringing in their ears, as they picked up dropped belongings, and declaring to each other that Touts are well on their way to becoming the next big thing.
Check out Vistas latest single 'Hold Me', here!
Wanna be 'aving some Touts? (They support Liam Gallagher on Sunday 29th October!) Check the video for Bombscare here!