Band: Sign
Venue: Certificate 18, York
Date: 14 August 2007 

There aren’t many bands these days that impress me so much that I check them out more than once per tour, but Icelandic rockers Sign are a band that have impressed the two times I saw them, firstly as support for The Wildhearts and secondly at Mexborough Civic Hall early on this their own headline tour, and now only four days later I’m out on the road again checking these guys out once more.  Not only that but I'll also be watching them perform at the forthcoming Trashstock Festival in Nottingham in another four days time!

After a lengthy interview with the band on the tour bus before the show, which will follow shortly on this site, it was back to the venue to catch the last few songs from the bands special guests on this tour, the mighty Teenage Casket Company, who unlike at the Mexborough show, had Jamie back on second guitar and vocals and I must say they just rocked.  Mexborough was a little flat without him but praise goes out to the two Robs and Mike for giving their all, tonight however the band were definitely a four piece as Jamie gives of an energy that the rest of the band just feed off and this had to be one of their most energetic and pumped up shows I've seen them perform so far. 

Certificate 18 isn’t the biggest venue around, the word snug comes to mind, but this intimate venue was about to erupt as Iceland’s own Sign hit the stage.  Led by frontman Zolberg who was quickly followed by A.D on guitar, brother Eagle on drums and completing the line-up Heimir on bass the band set to at igniting the crowd that had amassed to watch them perform here tonight.

The band set their stall out early on by opening up with ‘Lift Me Up’, a real barnstormer of a song which continued with the bands heavier side laid down with ‘What You Don’t Know’, which came complete with plenty of synchronised hair flailing by the band.

The set continued with that heavier vibe as the band burst into ‘Get Me Started’ before eventually bringing it down just a touch with the title track of their latest release ‘Thank God For Silence’ and the bands ballad ‘Breathe’, with Zolberg showing he has some emotionally charged vocals when it counts.

But it’s the bands high octane rock n' roll that really sets the band apart from others and a great example of this is the bands ‘Dancing In, Dancing Out’, this is the band at their best big riffs a monster rhythm section and a vocalist who has it all.

  In the interview prior to tonight’s gig the band told us their new album was almost complete and as if by magic the band gave us a hint of what’s to come with the new song ‘Hope Of Sign’, if this is just a sample of the quality of material on the album then I can wait. 

Next it was back to 'Thank God For Silence' from the excellent ‘Loved To Be Loved’ before really rocking the place with the Skid Row cover ‘Youth Gone Wild’ before finishing off another superb show with one of the highlights off their latest album the show stopper ‘When Demons Win’.

This is a band that are due for a big break and will surely go all the way given the right breaks and after tonight I just can't wait to catch up with them at Trashstock in four days.

 

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