Taking Hayley Farewell Tour

Taking Hayley, White Clouds and Gun fire and Twister

Rescue Rooms Nottingham and Academy 3 Manchester

February 15th and 18th, 2014

On the 6th December 2013, Taking Hayley, a relatively young band, announced their farewell tour, and as a thank you to their fans they announced that the show would be a free entry show, so it only seemed right to go and see them a couple of times.

The tour consisted of Taking Hayley, White clouds and Twister as the set bands on the bill, however, dependent upon which venue you went to you were treated to different guest acts.  At the Nottingham show we saw Kill the Ideal and In Hindsight and at the Manchester show we saw Bentley Park.

Of the guest support acts the one I enjoyed the most was the acoustic set offered by Michael and Isaac of In Hindsight.  They had great voices and a great stage presence, and considering that they were the only acoustic set on a full electric set they really got the crowd engaged.

Kill the Ideal and Bentley Park offered decent sets but neither of them really grabbed me enough to make we want to see them again, although I couldn't help but laugh when Bentley Park tried to get the audience involved, as I have never seen an audience that has been asked to bounce stand so still!

Twister are a four piece rock band from Newcastle.  They have great stage presence and a great sound.  Their set consisted of songs from their first album 'This Isn't Wonderland' and included 'Feeding Frenzy' and 'Famous Last Words'.

They also did a great rock version of Taio Cruz's 'Dynamite', which succeeded in getting the crowd moving and singing along.

Twister also managed to get me to do something that I very rarely do when I see a band for the first time.  I bought their CD.  

I can honestly say that I will be looking out for these guys coming to town as I really did enjoy them.

Next up were White Clouds and Gunfire, who I first heard in December.  I was impressed with them then and I was impressed with them again on both nights of this tour. 

Their set included songs from their new album 'For All The Believers', which included, 'Since You Were Gone' and 'Satellites'.

These guys have a great energy and really get the crowd moving.

Headliners Taking Hayley have obviously accrued quite a following during their three years together as they were welcomed on to the stage with  loud cheers.

Taking Hayley performed a jam packed set which included songs from their album 'Tricks and Games', including 'Tonight (We Come Alive)' and my favourite 'Crying Eyes'.

It's a shame that these guys have chosen to disband as they have the talent and the fan base to take it further.