Live Review: Yours Truly with South Arcade and Lizzy Farrall at The Underworld, Camden, London (15/03/23)

Australian pop-punk band Yours Truly couldn’t have picked a worse day to play in London, seeing as the show coincides with massive train strikes, including the tube. Something that makes getting to Camden mighty difficult for many.

So, it’s heartening to see The Underworld not just packed for the headliners but busy enough for the support bands, South Arcade and Lizzy Farrall. Two bands that take this opportunity and run with it. Although the latter does initially struggle with the vocals. The volume making a large portion of it hard to understand, even if Farall herself sounds immense.

Being cut from the same cloth as the headliners makes this a night of pop-punk energy and that’s what South Arcade deliver with their impressive set. At times, threatening to blow the headliner away with their incessant vigour and with the music to back it all up. Even when they take things to slower and more heart-wrenching territories, it’s still extremely watchable.

That being said, it’s all about Yours Truly and even though they take ages to get on stage, once they do, the place is bouncing from wall to wall. Although, the show is literally stopped within seconds as a ‘fight’ breaks out near the front and vocalist Mikaila has to intervene to sort things out. It’s not the sort of thing you expect at this kind of show. Likewise, the request later in the set for Mikalia to ‘kick someone in the head’. Odd stuff.

Forget all that though, it’s all about feeling good and enjoying life, as Yours Truly deliver a stonking blast of pop-punk. Restarting ‘is this what I look like?’ after that early interruption to wild scenes on the floor of the Underworld. Before delivering a bevy of hits like ‘Bruises’, ‘Heartsleeve’, ‘Lights On’, and ‘Walk Over My Grave’. To say that Yours Truly are on form is to underplay just how tight and refined their set is.

It’s over way too quickly in fact, even if the crowd has thinned as people leave early to try and find a way home (it took us two hours compared to the usual 45 minutes to an hour). Those left, which is plenty, make sure Yours Truly know they are more than appreciated and the band returns those feelings. This clearly meant a lot.