Last night we went to The Joiners in Southampton to see Only the Poets for their ‘Going back to where it began’ tour. The first of two shows on the evening. I had heard good things about them so thought I’d go and see for myself.
Only the Poets are an English band from Reading that have been playing together and building their fanbase since 2017. They have supported Louis Tomlinson, Lewis Capaldi and Bastille and performing at Lollapalooza in Paris and Reading Festival so must be doing something right and are currently signed with Virgin EMI Records.
The two shows were advertised for 7pm and 9pm, we had tickets for the first. We got there right on 7pm to a sizeable queue and were soon inside at the Bar. The audience on the night was a mix of ages but everyone ahead of us had made a beeline for the stage area in anticipation of the start. We still had plenty of time to find a good place to stand with a good view.
The band took to the stage about 7.30 delivered a great hour of pop infused rock, much to the appreciation and applause of the audience, 90% of which sang along start to finish word for word. Lots of phones in the air recording from time to time but not as much as you would expect, most actually just wanted to watch and enjoy the experience. A fun highlight of the night was the new single ‘Saké’ was released, went live at 8pm, 5 songs in and was ‘almost’ timed perfectly.
Setlist
- Miserable
- Mindset
- Over & Over
- Gone by Now
- All This Time
- Saké
- Emotionally Hungover
- Guess She’s Cool
- Looking at You
- I Keep On Messing It Up
- One More Night
- JUMP!
- Emotional
@we.will.trampoline.gigs Only the Poets @onlythepoetsuk at @joinerslive #onlythepoets #livemusic #fyp #trending ♬ original sound – we.will.trampoline.gigs
@we.will.trampoline.gigs Only the Poets @onlythepoetsuk at @joinerslive #onlythepoets #livemusic #fyp #trending ♬ original sound – we.will.trampoline.gigs
It was a great night. They have obviously mastered their craft well, musically great and the vocals from the lead singer and backing vocals harmonise really well. They had a backing track playing which lifted the tracks higher to a much greater atmospheric sound. As a side note it was great to see the guitarist playing a Fender Jaguar, a personal favourite and tick in the right box. If you don’t know this band take a listen. They do fit in a pop category but are a young guitar band. You could say bo band with guitars but that would be paying a disservice to what they present and where they are obviously heading.
There first album ‘And I’d Do It Again’ is available for preorder with a release date of the 30th January 2026. – https://onlythepoetsofficial.com/
They are also planning a 5000 capacity night at Brixton Academy in February for 1 night only at £1 a ticket, yes £1, so if your a fan be easy for ticket release day as they will go quickly.
