Taking time out from their support slot with the Cribs, The Thermals roll up in Sheffield for one of a handful of headline dates on their trip to the UK. A smaller venue than they have been playing with tourmates the Cribs, the Raynor Lounge is the small back room on Sheffield University's Bar One. To get to the Raynor Lounge, there is a sea of students in fancy dress costumes listening to Kylie "anthems" to wade through. The Bar is heaving, with the in-crowd all dressed up and throwing down shots whilst listening to popular music, which jars with the more chilled back-room where the underground kids are dressed down and drinking pints whilst listening to an indie band that 99% of the students next door have never heard of.
The Thermals play a late set, arriving on stage at around 11pm to a crowd eagerly awaiting a rare headline set. Playing a mix of tracks from their three studio albums, the Thermals also give some new songs a test run back by their brand new drummer Westin Glass. The Thermals don't waste much time with crowd interaction apart from a "thank-you" here and there, opting instead to relentlessly play songs from a lengthy setlist including "Here's Your Future", "How We Know" and finishing off with "Pillar of Salt". Faultlessly played, the songs are well received by the audience and the band themselves seem happy to be rocking out on this chilly Saturday evening.
There's no encore tonight, despite a few chants. In spite of this, it is safe to say that tonight, the modest-musicians Hutch, Kathy and Westin, warmed up a small Sheffield crowd and left grins on a lot of peoples faces.
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