After years of lingering delays and reschedulements due to COVID, Joe Mulherin, better known as Nothing, Nowhere, has finally managed to bring his unique sound to the shores of the UK, and with Bristol being the penultimate night of the UK leg of the tour, the show was set to be a ferocious occasion.
The show kicked off with a dramatic instrumental that flooded the crowd with anticipation and excitement before Mulherin joined his band on stage to begin his latest release ‘CYAN1DE’ which features the emo icon Pete Wentz, although the lack of Wentz at the shows means that the screams are provided by the lively Blake Hardman, whose previous experience in hardcore band Counterparts helps to deliver the heavy edge that Mulherin is so clearly seeking.
Following the feral opener came four songs from Mulherin’s most recent album Trauma Factory; ‘Pretend’, ‘Nightmare’, ‘Love or Chemistry’ and ‘Lights’. Since this tour initially started as a tour for Trauma Factory, and considering that the flock of devoted fans had waited over a year and a half to sing these songs live, each song was sang as if they had written the song themselves, which pried a smile onto the face of Mulherin as well as the rest of his band.
Next came the quintessential anthemic alternative love song ‘Pieces of You’, which has the crowds waving their arms from side to side as Mulherin prances around stage dancing, ‘Buck’ is the track that follows after this, and the energetic nature of the song means that even despite the cramped crowd those in the audience were more than happy to follow Mulherin’s instructions to lift themselves off the floor, with the crowd rippling for the entirety of the song.
Mulherin then turnt the clocks backwards and dived deeper into his back catalogue to play some older tracks, with ‘Clarity in Kerosene’, ‘Hopes Up’, and ‘Letdown’ showing that although there has been a clear shift in the sound of Nothing, Nowhere in recent years, the love for the songs that helped stamp his mark on the scene is still unwavering.
The final two songs before the encore saw a return to the ferocity of the opener, although now, the energy had increased tenfold. ‘M1SERY_SYNDROME’ saw the crowd split from wall to wall, and faux closer ‘Death’ featured a circle pit, commanded by Mulherin from the stage.
As the last few notes rang out, the band hastily departed the stage, however, it took less than two minutes of chanting and clapping for one more song from the audience before Mulherin and his band returned to the stage to deliver once last song, and arguably Nothing, Nowhere’s most popular song, ‘hammer’, which was preluded with Mulherin stating that “you’ll know all the lyrics to this one!”
With the last song over, the applause rained upon the band, and both Mulherin and the band thanked the audience before they left the stage for the final time.
As swarms of people left the venue and dispersed across the city, all I could think about was how bright the future for Mulherin, and with a new, heavier, album on the horizon, the stage is set for Mulherin to finally revel in the plaudits and recognition that he so throughly deserves.
