Artio: The Deleted Scenes Tour

ARTIO (OPENING FOR SOUTH ARCADE)

20.09.2023 @ The Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham (120 Capacity)

Written Sept 2023

South arcade's second opener was Artio. A band i've wanted to see for a while now, they were another recommendation from my sister. Artio are a queer rock band hailing from Leeds, England with multiple EPs under their belt. When we realised that both these guys and south arcade had an announcement on the same day at the same time we FREAKED OUT, realizing that Artio were the opener. I was no longer just dragging her with me, she was literally buzzing to finally see Artio live.

The band released their latest single 'wallflower' on the day of the show, performing it and another single ('sertraline') alongside the entirety of their 'Pyrokid' EP. The 'Pyrokid' EP, released in May, is my favourite of theirs & to hear these songs live (especially 'Hush money' & 'product of my own design') was absolutely amazing. Rae's vocals are inhuman & I’m constantly in awe of how they manage to do live sets full of belters one after another. Jai & Rob killed it on guitar, I was standing almost right in front of Jai & could see how full of energy they were. Ieuan also went crazy on the drums.

We got to say hi after the gig & got them to sign their setlists that we got from the stage after their performance - mine had Rae's annotations of what to say in between each song! When I was first introduced to this band via my sister, I thought they were cool & that I'd be a casual listener, but going back & listening to their discography has just solidified the fact that they’ve become one of my new favourite bands. I'm really looking forward to whatever they have in store after these new singles.