Therapy? @ Sub 89 (Reading, UK) on April 14, 2015 [Show Review]

Irish rockers Therapy? are one of those bands that a whole generation (of which I include myself) grew up on and a quick scan around Sub 89 is proof of that. I remember student night at my local rock bar where I’d be shaking my proverbial feathers with a pint of shitty warm lager in one hand on a sticky dancefloor to some of their finer Brit-rock anthems.

Well, it’s now 2015, the band are still here, maybe they’re not as popular as they once used to be and that generation might be a lot older but the beer is still shitty, the dancefloors are still sticky and we’re still happy to shake our feathers as that Irish charm makes us realise why fell in love with the band in the first place. On tour promoting new album Disquiet, Therapy? are in fine form tonight as they belt out a set split evenly down the middle – part student night classics like “Died Laughing” and “Knives” part well-received new tracks like “Good News Is No News” and “Words Fail Me”. The Irish humour of frontman Andy Cairns is also still there as he recalls tales of sleeping at Reading Station looking like a tramp after an appearance at Reading Festival many years previous to tonight.

The band end the main set with glorious renditions of “Screamager”, “Teethgrinder”, “Deathstimate” and their Husker Du cover “Diane” before returning to race through “Knives”, “Skinning Pit” and “Potato Junkie” closing the night by turning Sub 89 into a sea of bouncing punters singing along to “Nowhere”. A fantastic end to a fantastic night.