Last night my favourite Australian band, Tonight Alive, made a trip to London’s KOKO to show off the many gems of their new album ‘Underworld’. The band are no strangers to KOKO having played here before as they reminded us, letting the crowd know it was good to be back.

The band were promoting their new album ‘Underworld’ which came out in mid January, the new Album did not disappoint, I liked it even more then their last offering ‘Limitless’. Front woman Jenna McDougall shares, “The album is called Underworld and I named it that because it reflects the ugly parts of me that I wasn’t ready to see until now.”

‘Underworld’ is the bands first album since signing to Hopeless Records. On signing Tonight Alive, Hopeless Records’ EVP Business Development and A&R, Eric Tobin, said: “We are excited to have Tonight Alive join the family! We have been fans for a long time and look forward to working with them.” I was excited also as Hopeless Records have been home to some of my favourite bands over the years.

It had been a while since I saw Tonight Alive play, almost a year in fact since they supported ‘You Me At Six‘ at the Alexandra Palace. However this is my first time seeing the band as a four piece since the departure of guitarist and writer Whakaio Taahi. The band is now composed of vocalist Jenna McDougall, rhythm guitarist Jake Hardy, bassist Cameron Adler and drummer Matt Best.

The support bands were The Gospel Youth, which unfortunately I missed, but I had made my way to a nice spot in the crowd just in time to catch ROAM and boy were they a perfect warm up for the show. The crowd went wild for them and at one point you could be forgiven for thinking it was a ROAM headlining show instead. They had a great connection with the audience and I’m sure a lot of people came to see them specifically, as their fanbase in the scene grows daily.

There was a long wait until Tonight Alive came out and it was past the lineup time KOKO had offered up as their stage time. Impatiently the crowd awaited their heroes entrance until finally they emerged to huge cheers and relief. Jenna was wearing a shirt like none other I’ve ever seen, as per usual she showed off her own style and flare that makes her so unique.

Opening with a new song ‘Book of Love’ giving the new album the attention it deserved, although they quickly followed up with the classic and absolute banger ‘Lonely Girl’ from ‘The Other Side.’ In total they played 4 songs from ‘Underworld’ meaning the other 75% of their set were the classic songs I love so much.

As always the bands energy was contagious and the crowd went wild for them screaming as Jenna span around and around. We had a short break to breathe when they played an acoustic ‘Say Please’ and when Jenna gave a short inspirational talk about staying true to yourself during the set.

As per usual Tonight Alive gave an amazing all round performance and left fans old an new alike beaming as they exited the venue.

PHOTO: KOKO Website (credited as ‘Live Photos by Ant Adams and Rob Stainforth.’)