Catfish and the Bottlemen

2024 was supposed to be the year of the Catfish - after their temporary disbandment in 2021, the Welsh band returned with the statement new single “Showtime” and a big tour to lead up to their fourth album (their first since 2019). The announcement of two massive stadium shows for 2025 followed, one at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff and one at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. This was going to mark a grand return for one of the biggest bands of the 2010s, cementing themselves in indie legacy. What followed unfortunately, can simply be described as a car-crash. Their comeback single performed well below expectations and their tour was marked by controversy after the band cancelled a Dublin show just 10 minutes before doors opened, followed by an abrupt cancellation of a planned US and Australia tour. No reason, no statement, no communication. Nothing. This botched comeback would probably provide a bit of reason as to why I walked into a half-empty Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on a Sunday night, as fans had seemed to grow disconnected from the band following their antics. What also didn’t help was that just 12 miles down the road, Oasis were playing the last of their five sold out Wembley Stadium shows as part of their own big comeback. Now Oasis are obviously in a league of their own compared to Catfish and the Bottlemen, but tonight they were sharing one thing in common: they were both playing stadiums. While one band has been revered for their stadium shows on their comeback tour, it was interesting to see whether the newbies would make the most of the space. The verdict? Not quite.

As lead singer Van McCann stormed onto the stage with “Helter Skelter” by The Beatles playing in the background, it was definitely clear he still hasn’t lost any of that persona that made the band famous in the first place. His enthusiastic stomps echoed and reverberated across the room and as he began singing the words to opening song “Longshot”, the crowd sang back every last word to him in unison. For a half-empty stadium, the noise in the room definitely felt like it was a full house. Across the standing section, arms are seen rising up and punching the air at every beat of the song, mosh pits are open with fans careering into each other and inflatable alligators are chucked into the crowd. Down at the bottom, it seems like everyone is having the time of their lives. Up where I was sitting? Some people couldn’t care less. Almost everyone was still sitting down, with some attendees on their phones doom-scrolling on social media. Here lies the first gripe I had with the night; it’s one thing booking a stadium show, but it’s another thing altogether getting the crowd’s attention. Van and the band weren’t quite able to capture the entire room and make the most of it, apart from a few drawn-out singalongs. Some of the best stadium acts I’ve seen in my time are so good because they play for every single audience member. When Coldplay performs “Yellow” on their tour, they encourage everyone to turn around and sing the last verse to those in the nosebleeds. Even something as simple as Oasis encouraging the fans to do the poznan during “Cigarettes and Alcohol” goes a long way to creating small memories for everyone in the audience (not that Catfish would’ve been able to do something similar - they didn’t have enough people in seats to make it work!!). 

As the band continued through the set, there were flashes of brilliance and a reminder that they are an incredibly talented bunch. Songs from their sophomore album “The Ride” such as “Anything” and “Twice” are some of their best work - Van’s roaring vocals sounded as good as they ever have, and bassist Benji Blakeway, the only other original member, provided a solid backbone for the rest of the band. Those two slots following the departures of drummer Bob Hall and guitarist Johnny Bond in 2021 were filled by James Compton and Kai Smith respectively, and while their work with the band may fall slightly inferior to the former, there’s no denying that they are very strong replacements. That can especially be said for James, whose drumming acts as the glue to keep the band together. However, amidst all their great moments of musicality came my second gripe of the night: how dragged out some of the songs were. Despite their set only being 100 minutes long, instead of going through their extensive catalogue or even playing their latest song “Showtime” (which they have still never played live to this day), some tracks like “Business” and “Outside” are unnecessarily extended. “Business” takes up nearly 7 minutes of the set with its extended bridge, while “Outside” sees an extension to its intro, bridge AND outro, totalling for nearly 9 minutes of the set. The band’s annoying persistence of dragging out songs well beyond what’s needed is summed up best during “Kathleen”. At the beginning of the bridge, a small mosh pit opens up in the crowd ready for the refrain. As the bridge continues on and on and on, the mosh pit begins to look lifeless as if the refrain is never coming back. Finally, after over 2 minutes of the bridge, the mosh pit erupts and the crowd jumps around in jubilation. Well, at least those on the standing floor. No one in the nosebleeds moved a muscle.

Where the set is perhaps the strongest and most memorable, almost saving the night, was during their last run of songs. Following a beautifully tender acoustic version of “Hourglass” with just Van and his guitar, the band returned with the fan-favourite “7”. By now, everyone was on their feet singing along, and you could almost feel the vibrations coming from around the stadium with everyone’s collective energy. Van then utters “we’ve got two more songs left”, finally acknowledging the crowd for the first time that night, before moving onto arguably their biggest song “Cocoon”. This subsequently had me curious - surely there was no song better to end the show on than Cocoon. After all, they’ve had that as the closing song ever since the return from their hiatus. Then came the biggest and best surprise of the night. The return of “Tyrants”, performed for the first time since 2019. A song that Van McCann wrote when he was just 14, “Tyrants” has long been regarded by many fans as the band’s best work, and it’s no shock as to why. Phenomenal writing, a killer chorus and some unbelievable sections of instrumental bliss where all four of the band come together in perfect harmony. The performance of this song for me though summed up the night. When they’re good, they’re on top of their game and few indie bands can rival their quality. However, dragging out “Tyrants” for nearly ELEVEN minutes summed up their complacency and lack of sharpness that could’ve potentially derailed the entire night. Ultimately, while the band is more than capable of playing these big venues, whether people will actually pay money to see them there again playing the same setlist from 6 years ago is a different story. Maybe next time, I’ll be like guitarist Johnny Took from opening act “DMA’s”, who after his set, took the journey down the A406 to Wembley Stadium and saw Oasis instead. And I’m sure there wasn’t a single person in that stadium who wouldn’t have rather been there too.