Before even setting a foot on stage, Divorce were in the room. During the openers, Tiger Cohen-Towell, the bassist and one of the vocalists, snuck into the audience to watch their support and post videos to the Divorce’s story. An act many people wouldn’t have noticed, but she did it as she wanted to. This sense of camaraderie and sheer enjoyment for the music on that stage would come through again and again throughout the night.
Opening the night were Curiosity Shop, who, as the name suggests, brought a bright and whimsical arrangement to the stage. The band were equipped with a double bass and accordion, creating a bright and folky sound with three-part harmonies laced throughout. From joking with each other about being ill and passing around the bug to the vocalist leading the crowd in their final chorus, Curiosity Shop’s stage presence warmed up the crowd for the night.
Opening on ‘Karen’ Divorce welcomed the crowd to their distinct arrangements: soft and crashing, delicate and raging. Opening with a tuning sequence that morphs into light vocals and acoustic guitar, the song builds until Tiger is left screaming, taking the song out with ringing guitar in the background. Karen was a perfect introduction to the band's effortless movement between gentle and playful, yet always introspective and captivating.
Divorce really showed their character on stage. This was a night of quips to the audience and making their stance known. From opening with Curiosity Shop to Divorce themselves, there was a Palestine flag hung proudly on the stage. Kasper Sandstorm, their drummer, took it one step further, wearing a ‘No Music On A Dead Planet’ T-shirt.
It is always lovely when you leave a concert not only having listened to great music but also seeing the artists being their authentic and kind selves. And they really did this not only with the flag or the top but with who they were on that stage. They never missed an opportunity to shout out the other two bands, and in a cheeky merch plug, also spoke about the other bands' merch. They were really just themselves on that stage.
The band were seen just to be having fun and loving their time on stage. There wasn't one moment when they all weren’t nodding their heads along in unison to the music they were creating together. Particularly during ‘Gears’, they were bouncing around the stage and locking eyes with each other. Kasper was also having a little chat with the photographers mid-performance, putting on a big smile for the cameras on the side of the stage.
Tiger announced that the band had "been writing" and introduced the audience to two new songs. On the first new song, Tiger and Felix Mackenzie-Barrow performed a beautiful vocal canon during the build-up of the song. On the second one, they welcomed back one of the members of Curiosity Shop to the stage to play the accordion for them, Tiger joking that Felix said it was like "squeezing a choir of angels out of his chest".
It is evident that the band loves what they do and the art they create together. Singing four-way harmonies to Adam Peter-Smith playing his guitar during ‘Antarctica’ with a bow, Divorce are delivering beautiful compositions each time.
Divorce showed the crowd what a concert should be like: delivering stunning music and lifting up other bands to do the same. Their personality and care shone through in all they did, culminating in a performance of a lifetime. Divorce are not one to miss, and neither are the incredible people they welcome to the stage with them.
Ella Wilson-Coates
Images: Alisha Lawton
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