You know you’ve had one hell of a crazy night when you’re covered in beer at the end of it. On the 15th of November 2013, The Rifles, an indie rock band from Chingford in London performed at The Forum in Kentish Town at 7pm. Alongside the performance from The Rifles, fans also got a taste of the English indie rock bands Life In Film and The Dexters. With The Dexters first up on stage, The Forum was soon full of loads of energy as they set the scene for further bands to come. The Dexters showed off their epic guitar skills and set the fun lively atmosphere through engaging with the fans by trying on their glasses and throwing it back into the crowd again. Up on stage next was Life in Film, who were similar to Wheatus (well appearance wise anyway). These guys were the perfect band to calm down the crowd and create a mellow, chilled atmosphere whilst adding humour to it with their unique performance style.

The Rifles opened up the show like a magic act, suddenly appearing on stage as beams of light pierced through the thick darkness to reveal their presence. The band soon performed fantastic songs from a variety of albums including: The Great Escape, Spend A Lifetime, Peace And Quiet, Nothing Matters, Coming Home and Out In The Past. Thus, creating a complete contrast to the atmosphere which Life In Film made, turning it from mellow and peaceful to a loud, hectic and wild atmosphere. However, the most impressive part of the performance was the contrast of the fast paced indie rock sounds (that everyone loved) and the placid sounds of the acoustic section and then back to their hyped up, jumpy rock sounds.

Such songs as the “Great Escape” got the crowd psyched and hyped up due to the catchy chorus and lyrics of “looking for something” making this undoubtedly the most enjoyable part of the performance. It was songs like the “Great Escape” that caused the crowds to go wild with excitement which peaked during the chorus of the song. Mosh pits were created, beer was thrown amongst the crowd, fans were crowd surfing and piggy backs were given showing the fans’ enjoyment of the music. Nevertheless, The Rifles seemed to enjoy themselves just as much as the fans as they were smiling and engaging with their fans. Their song ‘Spend A Lifetime’ was the most intriguing piece that The Rifles performed as it provided fans with a completely different sound to their previous songs. Spend A Lifetime had an acoustic sounds to it and when “La La La” was sung, a carefree peaceful feeling was created amongst the audience with everyone swaying to accompany the melodic vocals.

The vocalist, Joel Stoker then expressed how personal the song was to the band, saying that it was “A story of our lives”. Despite this, The Rifles performance of ‘Toerag’ proved to be a slight downfall for the band, simply because they did not seem to be enjoying themselves on stage. The Rifles as a band are great performers, with the vocalist, Joel Stoker, being multi talented through being able to play acoustic guitar. Plus, the band’s guitarists are able to play electric and acoustic guitar too. They also play superbly together, supporting each other in their collaboration. Joel Stoker would often walk towards the guitarists and perform together with them showing elements of unity within the band.

Regarding, the instrumentation, the whole concert was composed of up tempo, funky music with strong beats to excite the audience as well as harmonic and melodic indie and acoustic sounds. The Rifles are a great band to see if you want to have a fun, crazy and lively Friday night and can be enjoyed by all generations. They provided everyone with an awesome performance as they knew exactly how to excite their fans and give them a good time. The Rifles at The Forum was nothing short of entertaining.