Welsh rockers, Lostprophets, released their fifth studio album this week and celebrated with an album release show in Kingston.
The band, who formed in 1997, played a matinee show to 1,200 fans at The Hippodrome on Monday 2 April, to mark the release of ‘Weapons’.
Lostprophets last played in Kingston 11 years ago, after the release of their first studio album, thefakesoundofprogress.
While it is nice to have a successful and hugely popular band playing on your doorstep, The Hippodrome was not an ideal venue. The Hippodrome is usually used for club nights and structurally there are a lot of pillars and staircases, meaning your view was restricted if you did not arrive as soon as the doors opened.
Fans tweeted the band as early as 10am on the morning of the show to say they were already queuing outside the venue, which shows how popular the band is in Kingston.
The show, organised by Kingston’s local record store, Banquet Records, kicked off slightly late due to a signing over running, but when the band appeared on stage just before 8:30pm, the crowd erupted with cheers.
As the show was an album release and tickets were only £8, fans expected only a few songs to be played from the new album, but this was certainly not the case.
Lostprophets kicked off the show with a fan favourite, Can’t Catch Tomorrow, from their third album, Liberation Transmission. This was extremely well received and really got the audience wanting more.
The 11-song set list consisted of old and new songs, with the former dominating the set. The range of songs dated back to those from their first album, released in 2000.
The mix of old and new songs worked really well with the audience as they were happy to hear new songs and get involved by singing along to the old favourites. And of course, as you would expect with any rock show, there was plenty of crowd surfing too.
The bands closing song was one of their most popular earlier releases, Shinobi vs Dragon Ninja. Fans applauded and sang along, and this really showed how many Kingston fans have supported them since they started out.
Despite the late start of the show and a poor choice of venue, the show exceeded fans’ expectations and the band delivered a top quality show.
Lostprophets start an 11 date tour of the UK, starting on 19 April in Liverpool and ending on 4 May at Brixton Academy, London.
Setlist
Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)
Bring ‘Em Down
A Town Called Hypocrisy
A Song For Where I’m From
Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)
We Bring An Arsenal
To Hell We Ride
Last Train Home
We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan (with “Kobrakai” intro)
Burn Burn
Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja
