LIVE REVIEW: BIG SPECIAL @ Rough Trade Liverpool

Following the surprise release of their sophomore album ‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’, Birmingham duo BIG SPECIAL embarked on a last minute album release tour. As part of this tour they landed in Rough Trade Liverpool for a night of visceral, Punk-spirited poetic onslaughts.

They kicked off by barreling through the early tracks of their new record; the gloomy tension of ‘THE MESS.’, the danceable Post-Punk grooves of ‘GOD SAVE THE PONY.’ and the witty cynicism of ‘HUG A BASTARD.’. It stood out that half the room already knew these songs word for word, chanting back the refrain “one for a fiver, two for a pound” from ‘HUG A BASTARD.’ with a confident power. 

As the crowd were already in voice, the duo then whipped some BIG SPECIAL favourites including the bloodcurdling vocal deliveries of ‘SHITHOUSE’ and ‘MONGREL’ alongside ‘BLACK DOG / WHITE HORSE’, a song which beautifully  captures the essence of the BIG SPECIAL project, partnering a soulful performance with eery instrumentals and captivating lyricism. 

A standout of the evening was ‘SHOP MUSIC.’, an angst-ridden demolition of the music industry from the new album that sees the pair team up to deliver a punchy vocal chant that gets to be shouted back. The finale explodes into an electro-punk swirl of sound that you can’t help but get lost it. It showcases their trademark poetic flair whilst delivering it in the most full-throttle, no-nonsense style. It’s inescapable! 

The show then came to an end with ‘TREES’ where Joe Hicklin entered the mosh pit, handing a lucky member of the crowd a singular drum stick and placing a cymbal in front of them, guiding their hits throughout the trap before it exploded into a thrashing finale with Joe and the fan smashing the cymbal repeatedly as the crowd went crazy around them. It was an appropriately raucous frenzy that would only have been possible in this intimate setting. 

The intimacy of the night in general allowed a conversational dynamic between band and crowd and allowed the audience to focus in on Joe’s lyrical gymnastics. However, it also meant that everyone in the room felt the full force of their Punk-spirted energy. Although the album came as a surprise, every person in the crowd left with ‘NATIONAL AVERAGE.’ soaked into their veins, imprinted on their soul…