BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD

Black Country, New Road have always been full of surprises. When frontman Isaac Wood bowed out days before the release of their second album, Ants From Up There, most groups would’ve found a new singer or simply folded.

- JULIAN MARSZALEK

Instead, the sextet drew a firm line under their past, ditched the old material and pushed on with an entirely new set written for the stage in the shape of Live At Bush Hall, rebuilding themselves in real time before their audience’s eyes. Current album Forever Howlong has seen yet another left turn with saxophonist and flautist Lewis Evans stepping away from the mic to leave violinist Georgia Ellery, keyboardist May Kershaw and bassist Tyler Hyde continuing with vocal duties. And while that’s another reframing of the band’s identity, no one is expecting what’s about to happen tonight.

Taking the stage to the blaring pulse of Fontaines D.C.’s Starburster — and dressed as the Dublin band to match — Black Country, New Road waste no time in flooring expectations. Instead of easing in, they tear straight into a wholly unexpected yet startlingly on-point cover of AC/DC’s