Recap: The Grates @ Waves Nightclub

When Patience Hodgson sauntered onto the stage at Waves, she announced to the intimate-sized crowd that this was going to be, "the most beautiful, sexy and intimate show of The Grates' Summer’s Breath tour", a feat that was delivered with not only the beauty and intimacy she mentioned, but with perfect songs, amazing energy and a screaming crowd who just couldn’t get enough.

You could feel the excitement in the room build as the time kept edging closer to Grates time, and when Patience jumped out into the crowd, it was like an explosion of energy worked its way through both the crowd and the band. Patience sparked up conversations with the crowd, and gave out a nickname or two in between songs, before jumping around like the incredible front woman she is to the next song.

The band owned the stage the moment they stepped onto it, and never left you with a moment to look away, as you never wanted to turn your back on such a high energy, yet intimate performance. The crowd may not have even been close to the biggest crowd The Grates have played, but it was a crowd to which they gave their all and a crowd that gave their all back in return.

The band worked their way through all of their hits, both young and old, with a crowd that seemed to know the words as well as the band and sang and danced their way through every song like they were on stage themselves.

The moment the band left the stage screams of encore trickled through the venue, and in true Grates style the band did not let anyone down and returned for two more songs, and a promise of beers with the fans as long as they kept singing along with her like they had all night. And sing and scream and dance they did, in the hopes of chatting to the fun and energetic band, and yet again the band did not let a single person down and hung around for ages chatting, signing and posing for photos like everyone in the crowd was a long lost friend.

Photos: Johto