The Union - Friday 21st October - O2 Academy, Islington

The Union soundcheck to an empty O2 Academy

A rare treat indeed. As a result of a previous purchase, I was invited to the soundcheck and a meet & greet for the 3rd night of the Union's tour in support of their excellent new album "Siren's Song".

An early start (4.45pm!) and I was ushered with around 10 other lucky guests into the empty O2 Academy where the band had just gone on stage.

They then ripped through 3 new songs from the new album, at full volume - a private gig for the handful of us! I was surprised how "full on" the soundcheck was - no holding back vocally from Pete Shoulder for example.

Following that, the band came to the floor for a chat and were very friendly and hospitable. I had a chance of a few minutes with Pete and Luke (Morley) and then a few seconds with Chris (Childs) before the support band started sound-checking and it was time to go.

A brief solo pub-crawl of Islington followed and then it was time to pick up my ticket from the guest list - yay!

Although not quite full, the atmosphere was good and the band were on stunning form. Easily the best show I've seen from them and both music and especially vocals were fantastic. It was all over quite quickly (the Academy has an early curfew on Fridays), so I'd be hoping for a longer set next time around.

On the way out I bumped into Dave Ling ("Ling alert!") and had a brief chat - he seemed to enjoy the show too. Hope it isn't too long until the next one!

Setlist
Watch The River Flow
Burning Daylight
Black Gold
Saviour
Easy Street
Blame It On Tupelo
Lillies
Obsession
The Remedy
Cut The Line
Black Monday
Siren's Song
+
Come Rain, Come Shine
Step Up To The Plate