Review: The Lathums at Cambridge Junction

The band of the moment, proudly riding high at number one in the UK album charts, The Lathums performed in Cambridge on Monday, October 4.

Taking the stage to the strains of Caravan of Love by The Housemartins - a band to whom they've regularly been compared - the four members of the fast-rising Wigan outfit received a rapturous reception from the near-capacity J1 crowd.

The audience then enthusiastically sang along as the down-to-earth quartet launched into its most recent single, Fight On. Other wonderful tunes followed, most notably the jaunty I'll Get By and the supremely catchy Oh My Love. "Thank you very, very much," said singer/guitarist Alex Moore on a number of occasions, a young man who still seems a little overwhelmed by all the success he and his mates have been enjoying of late.

Alex performed three songs alone with just an acoustic guitar - including the anthemic How Beautiful Life Can Be (the title track of their number one debut album) and All My Life. "You make me feel special," he said after the reaction to the former. He added that he'd never seen such a "sing-song" crowd.

The audience showed its admiration by emphatically chanting "UK number one!" to the tune of Give It Up by KC & The Sunshine Band throughout the evening. The band lapped up the admiration and happily joined in the revelry by singing and dancing along. At one point, Alex held up a trophy they'd received for getting to number one and announced, "We did it together!"

While some songs had a jangly, almost Smiths-esque quality about them, others veered more into hard rock territory, with guitarist Scott Concepcion impressing with some breathtaking solos. His solid guitar work and Alex's outstanding voice were ably backed up by bass player Johnny Cunliffe and drummer Ryan Durrans.

For a band who has only released one album, The Lathums already have a solid and varied setlist which didn't really flag at any time. There were moments of melancholy, moments of joy and vigorous uptempo numbers such as I See Your Ghost which had many attendees, of varying ages, pogoing with wild abandon.

The Lathums are having the time of their lives and will undoubtedly add more gems to their catalogue in the years to come, meaning that they'll reach an even wider audience. This was only my second post-Covid gig, and what a gig it was. It was also good to see the boys in a venue of this size as it's surely only a matter of time before the larger arenas come calling.

For more on The Lathums, go to thelathums.com.

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