The Hoosiers

On 15th May 2014 I saw The Hoosiers for the first time at Newcastle’s Think Tank venue. The intimate gig was an interesting way to see the indie pop group. I remember the band’s peak of popularity a few years back and, associating it with my school days, I thought I’d missed the boat with seeing them live. So, I was pretty excited when I heard that the Hoosiers were touring near my university town.
The Hoosiers opened with tracks from their new album, ‘The News from Nowhere.’ Unfortunately, ‘Handsome Girls and Pretty Boys’ and ‘Make or Break’ were met by a fairly lacklustre response from the audience. While I enjoyed the danceable drumbeat of the latter, I could see how the songs’ unfamiliarity disappointed the mainly twenty-something crowd hoping to hear the anthems from their teen years.
When The Hoosiers did deliver theirs hits, they did so in style. Front man Irwin Sparkes took full advantage of the intimate venue. During the encore the singer made his way into the crowd, impressively rousing the audience into enthusiastic participation in old favourites, ‘Choices’ and ‘Goodbye Mr A.’ Treating my neighbours to a particularly out of tune refrain of ‘stop giving me choices’ I imagined how a teenage version of myself would feel to know that one day I’d essentially be joining Irwin Sparkes in a sing along.
The Hoosiers adapted their style to the intimate venue, so I’d encourage you to see what they do in their upcoming gigs.

Saw the Hoosiers at Kiln Farm MK11. The venue is amazing- well decorated with vinyls on the ceiling at the bar and comic book covers on the walls. There's no seating near the stage but the standing area is big enough for a small crowd of maybe 200 people, making shows here quite intimate and fun. Having never been to a concert in such a small venue before, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the show was better than I could have imagined. The lead singer went out into the crowd for a guitar solo and even gave people hi-fives. The best part was at the end when the band stayed by the door, having said they "wanted to shake the hand of every member of this wonderful audience", and let people take photos with them. As for the music, they played all their most popular songs as well as some newer stuff from their latest album.
The support acts, Betraying Franklin and the Sons were also great and I think the Sons did an excellent job of warming up the crowd.
My advice would be to get a spot near the front in this venue while the support acts are still on so you can get a good view of the stage and if you have to go anywhere, do so in the breaks and get your friend to hold your spot- but the same advice applies for pretty much any standing concert.
Overall a good night, a friendly band (even the drummer talks!) and at a reasonable price for tickets and drinks.

Awesome show, live streamed on the Hoosiers Facebook page, so see for yourself :) support acts were Panic State, The Recoupes, Eastroad and Forget The Down. O2 Islington rocks, just a shame about the curfew...

Really great show in a really great venue! Would definitely recommend the Komedia for live music and The Hoosiers have an excellent stage presence in addition to their awesome sound.

These guys make too good music for the small gigs they play. They do little things to put on a good show and Irwin is a great performer. His vocal and guitar skills are outstanding.