Scouting for Girls - Rosie Smith - Charlie Starmer Smith

A nostalgic night of throwbacks and living through the late 2000s.

Scouting for Girls came to the LCR last night on their second to last night of tour. It was a sold-out gig, and you could tell, the turnout was incredible (even with the football being on).

Coming onto the scene in 2007, the three-piece indie pop band, Roy Stride, Pete Ellard, and Greg Churchouse released their self-titled debut which went on to become triple platinum. This brought the anthems we all know and love such as ‘She’s So Lovely’, ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’ and ‘Heartbeat’. As a 90s baby, I grew up listening to Scouting for Girls, so I was so excited to be able to review this and they did not disappoint, this was one of the best gigs of 2022, without a doubt!

The night started with Rosie Smith, a 23-year-old singer. She brought energy to the room and beautiful deep vocals. She sung a few of her own sings, with also a few covers. Running up the hill by Kate Bush was a favourite that Rosie sung, the crowd sung their hearts out to it and danced away. It was the most amazing atmosphere. Another cover was Ho Hey by The Lumineers, this was another favourite of mine and definitely the crowd’s as well.

After a quick set change, Charlie Starmer Smith came on. Like Rosie Smith, he did his own songs with a mix of covers. The favourites were All I Want by Kodaline and Fix You by Coldplay. This got the crowd ready for SFG. I can’t miss out, during a short wait for SFG after Smith the crowd cheered and started to sing ‘It’s Coming Home as England had scored, a few must have been keeping an eye on the game during the gig. This brought so much laughter and good spirits to the evening.

It was at 8:30pm when the ‘20th Century Fox Fanfare’ started to play, Scouting for Girls entered on to the stage. I was personally so excited, but the whole crowd was too. They opened the night with I Wish I Was James Bond, which is a song I loved but had not heard for so long. The energy from the band was unreal, upbeat, and ready to finish the night on a high. Roy stride had his phone on a selfie stick for some of the songs which he waved across the audience on several occasions throughout the night. Stride is a performer, and it was so refreshing to see an artist so passionate towards his music and fans, I have gained so much respect for the group (even more than I already had).

All the favourites of Scouting for Girls were played such as Heartbeat, Michaela Strachan and Love How it Hurts. Roy stride got the audience to point at the person they were with that they thought was the poshest, ready for of Posh Girls to be sung if you hadn’t of guess (my best friend picked me). We all got ready for the chant within the song “Boys a School” and the audience did an amazing job.

This was Scouting for Girls 15th Birthday; it seemed a special night for them. Roy Stride, the lead singer said on several occasions how much he loved Norwich and how him and the band love to play at the LCR. The band seemed so genuine, and it was lovely to hear how close they are too. Roy spoke about how him and Peter Ellard met at scouts and that is where the band name came from and of course how he met Greg Churchouse, a friend from school. Roy introduced the newest member of the band as well, Jamie O’Gorman, making him the 4th member of the band. Throughout the night Stride referred us as the crowd as the 5th member of the band too.

Scouting for Girls sung one their new songs from their upcoming album, as an audience we learnt a few words of it which was then recorded so it could be used within the song release. I absolutely loved this, and it felt so amazing to be a part of something like that. The final song was then sung, ‘Elvis Ain’t Dead’, a classic and one of my favourites. After that the band left the stage, the audience erupted in a chant of “one more song”. A Christmas tree was moved on to the stage and lit up, SFG came running back onto stage after a quick change into Christmas jumpers (Well, drummer Pete was in an Olaf suit, but we were all fully supporting that, and he wore it well with pride). Christmas in the Air was performed for the encore as well as ending the night with the infamous She’s So Lovely. It was an incredible end to the night.