Red Rum Club describe their On The Waterfront gig as “and honour and Bucket List S**t”

Liverpool’s very own Red Rum Club brought their brand of ‘Mariachi Merseybeat’ back home on Friday with a concert at On the Waterfront Festival.

The band’s lead vocalist Fran Doran described the event as ‘an honour’ and ‘Bucket List S**t’ whilst addressing the crowd during the group’s largest ever outdoor headline show.

A whopping five support acts preceded Red Rum Club at Friday’s event, including three also from Liverpool- The Kowloons, TikTok sensations Keyside, and The Kairos, whose grungey sound warmed the crowd up nicely, definitely an act to keep an eye out for. Manchester group The Lilacs and Reading based Only the Poets completed the quintet of warm ups for Red Rum Club.

RRC strutted confidently onto stage in front of an adoring crowd, a 15-foot horseshoe dangled behind drummer Neil Lawson’s kit, paying homage to the famous Aintree racer from which they take their name. Kicking off with one of their most popular tunes, ‘Vibrate’ set the tone for a fast paced evening and satisfied long-term Red Rum Club listeners. They also played ‘Matador’, the title track from their debut album, as well as some newer songs from their latest album Buck. 

Following the departure of Joe Corby in April, Boston’s Eli Younger has stepped into the role of trumpeter within the group. In what must have been a tough few months for the 22-year-old, he filled the role perfectly on Friday night. Only the most devoted of Red Rum Club listeners would be able to tell that this wasn’t an original member of the group. Younger’s trumpet solos can only be described as ‘Morricone-esque’, they added an epic vibe to the show, and as the sun set on the River Mersey, they had us feeling like Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The best thing about seeing Red Rum Club live is witnessing just how much they cram into just under an hour and a half, they took to the stage at 9:30 and popped off just before the venue curfew at 11:00. It’s extremely impressive how they manage to fit all of their hits together in a cohesive unit that manages to feel efficient yet not rushed in the slightest. Michael McDermott and Tom Williams supported Doran’s vocals with some cool guitar riffs and impressive use of a glass slide on ‘Call Me On Your Comedown’. Bassist Simon Hepworth shone on ‘Vanilla’, which the band used to close out their set and send their fans home happy as the Royal Liver Building was lit up in red. 

As someone who wasn’t too familiar with Red Rum Club before this gig, I was very impressed with their polished performance, excellent stage presence and gratitude to their hometown. The group manages to throw multiple things at the wall and it all sticks, a blend of Mariachi Country Indie Pop is something you won’t have heard before, but it works. The group could have easily played for another half an hour but went for quality over quantity, something people appreciated after hearing another five bands earlier in the night. If you are a Red Rum Club superfan, it will always be worth going back to see them for the tenth time. They take time to embrace their hardcore supporters on stage after their encore, they pace their shows well with enough slow tunes to come down from their pumpy rock and roll numbers, and they’re only going to get bigger.

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