Gig Review: Sweet Unrest blew our minds at The Finsbury

When you go to a Sweet Unrest gig, you always expect a great show, explosive energy, all sorts of antics and of course great music. But this time, at The Finsbury in North London, they managed to raise the bar even higher.

I caught up with them before their set, in what was effectively an outdoor green room. That’s where I realized Leon actually has the same lastname as I do. His name is Leonidas Theodosiou. The band members were having a drink, while talking about upcoming gigs and other plans. It was clear they were in the mood for a great show. They got on stage, with Jack lying on the floor, while Leon had a PG tips monkey attached to the headstock of his bass.

They started off with a song they released a few months ago, How Are You Feeling. It was a good way to set the tone for the evening.

 They followed up with two rebel songs, Do What I Choose and All The Same.

Play That Funky Music

They started playing this cover a few months ago and it's now very much part established in their setlist. The 70's iconic song Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry, was part of their show again.

Upcoming single: Sometimes

Finally this song is being released. They have been playing Sometimes for quite a long time, at least since last year. It's now produced and ready to go.

The absolute anthem: Falling For You

Leon switched from bass to guitar for two songs. The first one was Waste My Time. The second one was their incredible ballad, Falling For You, with Marlo delivering that magical solo in the end, as always.

Peace Of Mind, the final song. Or is it...

Peace Of Mind was the last song on the setlist, but the crowd had different ideas. They enjoyed the show so much, they wanted more. That's when the first encore came. And it looks like they had a cover prepared for the possibility of an encore. Not an obvious choice: Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal.

After the encore that would be it, right? Surely. Well, the crowd wanted even more. They checked with the promoter and got confirmation they could do one more. And which songs had they not included in the setlist? Their last 2 singles! So they played their new single, Part Time Lover. According to Jack, it's about "situationships".

Justice for Come Alive

They have so many incredible songs, their latest single Part Time Lover could only be the 2nd encore song. Their previous single Sunshine didn’t make the cut. The absolute banger that is Come Alive hasn’t been in the setlist for a very long time now. Honestly, justice for Come Alive. That song deserves to be back on the setlist, even if they keep writing great songs.

Conclusion

The expectations are always high with these guys, but they just keep getting better and better. Bloody hell Sweet Unrest. I knew you guys are great, but that was yet another level up.

Sweet Unrest are:

Jack River: Lead singer. He also plays guitar, tambourine (quite a lot) and harmonica on stage.
Tom Waller: Rhythm guitar.
Leon Theo (Leonidas Theodosiou): Bass and sometimes guitar.
Marlo Richards: Lead guitar.
Dan Ali: Drums.

In the acoustic version of Falling For You, Leon played piano and Tom played bass.

Access the internal bliss

In the interview we did a few months ago, Jack gave an emotional and inspirational speech, telling you how you can access the internal bliss.

Here are some samples of their merch. This is the link to their linktree, where you can find all the sources of bliss.

Buy their merch...

And listen to their music: