Delays previewed six new songs from their forthcoming album at a storming show in LONDON last night (October 22).
The Southampton quartet laced nearly half of their set at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire with new tracks set for second album ‘Action Reaction’.
They kicked off the show with ‘001’, against a backdrop of Bruce Lee mirrors and glitter balls, before they launched into debut album track ‘Bedroom Scene’.
Early on in the set, singer Greg Gilbert said: “Some time in the not too distant future we are going to release a second record. We are going to try a couple of new songs out tonight.”
The band then played a series of forthcoming tracks including ‘Out Of Nowhere’, ‘Lillian’, ‘You See Colours’, ‘Segue’, ‘Angel’ and forthcoming single ‘Lost In A Melody’.
They also treated fans to a couple of crowd favourites such as hit singles ‘Nearer Than Heaven’ and ‘Long Time Coming’.
Halfway through the gig, keyboard player Aaron Gilbert said: “We went out to a charity shop today and bought the shittest stuff you could find. This one is for charity shops and Shepherd’s Bush.”
The band then performed the track ‘On’ from their first album.
During the encore, the crowd gave the biggest cheer when the Delays played hit single ‘Long Time Coming’ and ‘Wanderlust’.
As the band closed the set, Greg added: “We have never been here before. This is the first time we have played here. We will have to play here again sometime. We are the Delays, have a good night.”
Speaking before the show, Greg told NME.COM: “I have been really nervous about this tour because ‘Hey Girl’ was the last single we had out and that was out in spring. Our new single has been put back as well and that isn’t even out until next month.
“But it has been really surprising and fantastic because the tour has sold out in many places like Loughborough, Leeds, Brighton and here. Without sounding corny, it almost feels like a community out there. There are a lot of like minded people coming to see us and I love that.”
A share of the ticket sales from the gig are to be donated to Cancer Research.
“We are pleased that a lot of the proceeds tonight are going to a good cause. We’re doing a gig at The Joiners in Southampton for a children’s charity and we are limiting that to 150 people. It is better to just do things like that and spread some good will rather than be obsessive about what the best gig to get money out of is,” Greg explained.
Speaking about the mirrors onstage, the singer said the band got the idea when they were filming the video for their forthcoming single.
“We were talking about Bruce Lee and the hall of mirrors scene from ‘Enter The Dragon’ for our new video for ‘Lost In A Melody’. In the end we decided to put those mirrors on stage as well.”
Meanwhile, Greg’s brother Aaron is set to appear on the BBC 2 show Never Mind The Buzzcocks on Monday (October 25).
“He really enjoyed filming that. I mean he’s loud as fuck. He made friends with all these people on the show and he has all their mobile numbers now. He’s keeps getting texts and I’m like, ‘what the fuck?’” he added.
They played:
‘001’
‘Bedroom Scene’
‘Nearer Than Heaven’
‘Out Of Nowhere’
‘Lillian’
‘On’
‘Hey Girl’
‘You See Colours’
‘One Night Away’
‘Segue’
‘Stay Where You Are’
‘Angel’
‘Lost In A Melody’
‘Wanderlust’
‘Long Time Coming’