The Warning & Dead Pony – Rock City, Nottingham – 21/07/24

July 28, 2024

*Dani Villarreal performing with her sisters in The Warning in Nottingham – Photo by Carrie-Anne Pollard*

Tonight hosts a sold out stop on The Warning’s world tour. With a queue snaking down the street before doors open, this is anything but a sleepy Sunday evening.

First up we have one support, Glaswegian four piece Dead Pony. They make their way on to the stage without much fan fair, casually checking instruments and placing and re-placing drinks into the perfect spot. A minute later the electro beats begin and vocalist Anna Shields stomps her way to centre stage. Kicking into ‘Voodoo People’ then ‘Ignore this’, that stomping doesn’t stop. During ‘MK Nothing’ Shields makes her way to the barrier, mingling with the front rows, while guitarist Blair Crichton and stand-in bassist Lizzie Reid keep everyone else entertained. After pushing for a pit, the crowd happily oblige during set closer ‘MANA’.

After the warm up, comes the main attraction. The Warning step out to a room full of cheers, before breaking into opening song ‘Sick’. The Villarreal sisters work the stage, with an almost invisible barrier cutting it into thirds. Each member – guitarist Daniela, bassist Alejandra and drummer Paulina respectively – having their own slice. As soon as ‘Choke’ kicks in the whole room takes control of the vocals, shouting out every word, while the Spanish ‘Qué Más Quieres’ is loved just as much (though maybe not sung quite as thoroughly!)

The Warning blast their way through a huge 17 song set, explaining along the way that it’s their first time in Nottingham, but hopefully not the last. ‘Hell You Call a Dream’ fills the room with ‘woooahh’s from top to bottom, and it’s this time in the set – towards the end – that Daniela introduces each member to raucous cheers. ‘Automatic Sun’ is another crowd favourite, getting the whole room clapping. They end their set with an encore of two songs, with Daniela taking the helm on ‘Narcisista‘, which usually has Paulina as the lead. Then rounding off the night with ‘Evolve’, the sick Paulina asking for the crowd to fill in for her epic mid-song scream.