Catfish and the Bottlemen Revived

Catfish and the Bottlemen w/ The Worn Flints
Showbox, Seattle, WA
03.26.19

Almost three years after their last release, Brit-rock band Catfish and the Bottlemen has been revived! They’ve hyped up the release of their third album, The Balance, enough to fill out Showbox SoDo with an energetic group of fans.

The night kicked off with The Worn Flints, a trio that really came out of nowhere, but showed up with their best. They’ve got a very classic garage alt-rock sound with fuzzy and strong guitars and floaty vocals. The songs are fun and high energy, but what really made their set was lead singer Kenny Stiegele. This guy goes crazy during their performances, whipping his long hair around while he plays guitar, dancing in crazy ways, and honestly winning the crowd over one song at a time. Regardless of what their music sounded like, The Worn Flints are definitely worth seeing for even just their crazy fun live performance.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Catfish and the Bottlemen, so when they announced a third album after what felt like decades, I was over the moon. I fell in love with them through their debut album, jammed out endlessly to their second one, and was so excited to see what they were going to pull out for their third time around. The Balance was released about a month after the show and absolutely does not disappoint—something that was very clear during the teasers they threw into their live set.

Their show opened with their first single from The Balance, “Longshot.” The track was a beautiful opener: showing off the hype of their new album while also showing how they’re sticking to their roots with their sound.

The night continued with banger after banger, all the classics from their first records—the songs we’ve been loving for the past few years. As always, lead singer Van McCann’s acoustic rendition of “Hourglass” broke everyone’s hearts as the crowd shouted along with the lyrics. And finally, “Tyrants” closed the night off with one of the biggest hits from their debut album.

Catfish and the Bottlemen has crushed it once again with their third album, The Balance, and their live set in Seattle proved yet again how killer of a band they are.

Review and photos by Lulu Dawson

Catfish and the Bottlemen