True to their spirit, the show at the Kentish Town Forum was messy and joyful in equal measure.
Words: Donovan Livesey
Sports Team have always treated their success as a joke that got out of hand. From launching their 2020 debut, 'Deep Down Happy', with a gig at their local pub that ended with their drummer in A&E to trundling across the UK in a battered van to promote 2022's 'Gulp', they've managed to turn shambolic charm into an art form. The band's homecoming show at Kentish Town's Forum proves that not much has changed.
True to form, frontman Alex Rice spent the hours before the show hosting his own lookalike competition at a pub next door. Despite Mercury Prize nominations and a No. 2-charting album, the band remain refreshingly immune to taking themselves too seriously.
The evening kicked off with two support acts – C Turtle and Mary in the Junkyard – whose experimental grit was enough to transform a static Monday-night crowd into a bouncing mass. Sports Team's track record for finding future stars (they previously spotlighted Fat Dog before they were even on streaming platforms) seems intact; tonight's openers feel destined for similarly bright futures.
By the time Sports Team make their entrance, soundtracked by an absurd blast of French opera, the crowd is already teetering on the edge of delirium. The opening riff of 'Camel Crew' tips them over. It took just seconds for them to surrender to Rice's dominance, the floor turning into a frenzied sea of bodies with just-bought drinks flying in every direction. The anthemic scrappiness of 'Happy (God's Own Country)' and the frenetic energy of 'The Game' only amplifies the momentum; three songs in and it's clear Sports Team are throwing everything they've got at this gig.
Amid the riotous celebration of their past, the band also offered a glimpse into their future. Their forthcoming album, 'Boys These Days', gets a moment in the spotlight, with the sax-driven groove of 'I'm In Love (Subaru)' hinting at new layers of experimentation. The unreleased 'Bang Bang Bang' lands with a punchy, '80s-tinge while 'Condensation' cements itself as a fan favourite in the wake of its recent release. For the most part, though, tonight is a celebration of Sports Team's journey. Spanning the band's entire discography, the setlist covers everything from wailing debut single 'Stanton' to the furious, sarcastic anthem of 'Here's The Thing'.
What is striking is how much tighter the band has become since their last tour. With seven musicians on stage for much of the gig, it's impressive that they avoided the whole thing turning into a wash of distortion. At the centre of it all is the inimitable Alex Rice. Whether precariously perched on a flight case or leaning dangerously far into the crowd, he commands the audience's attention with the swagger of a young Jarvis Cocker. The crowd pay him back in outstretched limbs, wild mosh pits and word-for-word singalongs that often rise louder than the band themselves.
Trying to take notes at a gig like this quickly becomes futile. With the crowd in a sweaty frenzy, phones down, and inhibitions left at the door, everyone is completely untamed for a precious hour. Rushed notes quickly become illegible, then abandoned altogether, as the music takes over. Yet, amid the chaos, the band offers moments of surprising calm. "We've got a couple of slow ones, then it's the serious stuff," Rice quips before 'Maybe When We're Thirty', a reflective unreleased track about growing up, which has fans climbing onto each others shoulders.
The night ends, fittingly, with the band's debut single 'Stanton', a nod to the sweaty, cramped venues where Sports Team first carved out their identity. As the final chords fade, the band exits to the strains of Robbie Williams' Angels. Arms aloft and voices united, the crowd belts out every word. It's a moment that encapsulates what Sports Team have built: a community bound not by polish or perfection, but by the joyful, messy spirit of home.
