The triumphant band are in the mood for a party to celebrate the success of their number one album KOKO at The Bullingdon in Oxford, 20th April 2025.
It is an evening that threatens not to go right. A number of fans are nearly turned away, after their names cannot be found on the list provided to the venue by Truck Records, causing some consternation. It is mostly sorted. Then there are issues with one of the venue’s main speakers. Techies and roadies are fiddling around with it fifteen minutes after the support band, The Valla, are due to have started. It is eventually resolved, though not before The Valla’s drum kit has been damaged. Luckily it is just cosmetic and does not stop them getting on. They get a bit of a time extension, and The Lottery Winners end up going on just ten minutes late after more fiddling with kit.
The Valla
Given all the challenges The Valla manage to put in a decent performance. Frontman George Coulson is striking in his customised suit covered in messages. The overall theme of the suit seems to be highlighting inequality.
They peddle a good line in indiepop, leaning into indie-rock, with thoughtful lyrics. You can imagine the songs were at home supporting the Lottery Winners on the bigger stage of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire as much as they were in this tiny venue. They have been enthusiastically plugging away for six years now and deserve a bit more attention than they have been getting.
The Lottery Winners
This is a band that absolutely loves playing live. They are hitting a level that they don’t need to be playing venues this small, but here they are and having a blast. Just as they loved every other gig on this record store connected chart celebration tour. Just as they loved hosting their own pop-up shop near their hometown of Leigh for a week, where they put on a show every night and still had a support act as well. Just as they loved playing three consecutive nights between Christmas and New Year hosting their own little holiday party. In an age where a lot of acts don’t like the grind of constant touring they are refreshing. At Glastonbury 2023 they played no less than six sets across the weekend.
The technical issues from earlier threaten to plague the start but are quickly resolved, though Thom Rylance insists on going off and coming back on again to start the show again properly. Right from the second go the humour and spontaneity on display is infectious and spellbinding. After a coupe of tracks Thom quickly tangents into getting them playing Love Will Tear Us Apart for the “first time in about twelve years.” Thom barely remembers the words but just about gets through it, and it is great.
Thom’s ADHD powered scattershotness keeps coming out. Tonight Snow Patrol are on his mind and how many number one UK albums they have. He is struggling to work out how many it is from the information his phone is giving him. “What’s the singers name? Gary Lightyear?” Somebody shouts out, “Lightbody!” Thom is giggling again. “Gary Lightbody? Oh, I’m Thom Heavybody!” It all leads into several snatches of ‘Chasing Cars.’ In the week KOKO has been chosen as BBC Radio Two’s Album of the Week this very Radio Two looking crowd is more than happy to help belt it out. At another point we get a fragment of several tracks by Busted. Thom stops after a few bars and implores us, “Don’t put that one on Setlist FM, I want to seem cool.”
In the most off the wall moment a member of the crowd suggests they play ‘It Must Be Love.’ After Thom and Rob start noodling out the tune Thom stops and says he doesn’t know the words. The guy shouts back that he does. “Well you’d better come up then. It’s okay, he’s Welsh… they can all sing.” It could have backfired horrendously but yet again it is a triumph for the evening. The guest vocalist does a great job and the band nail the sound of the classic track. “Is this anyone’s first ever gig?” asks Thom. “Don’t go thinking this sort of thing happens all the time” It doesn’t, but at the moment everything is coming up Lottery Winners and they cannot put a foot wrong.
Given all these interludes they do actually have time to play many of their own tracks. The small audience belts out every chorus with “You Again” sounding particularly fine. Tracks from Anxiety Replacement Therapy hold up very well including ‘Worry’ and ‘Letter To Myself.’ ‘Burning House’ is saved for the encore alongside ‘Turn Around.’ Several members of the crowd are gathered up on stage to help with the ‘Turn Around’ dance moves.
The Lottery Winners are an exceptional band. They have worked extremely hard to get to this point and they have done it all on their own. They are now ready to claim a position as a band of the people, appealing to a broad range of ages and interests. A band your entire family can fall in love with. A band whose messaging on mental health strikes a chord with a lot of people. A band that inspires fanatical devotion from people who are not generally particularly fussed about seeing a lot of live music. You wouldn’t be surprised though if they are still popping up in venues like this after the next album levels Snow Patrol’s haul of number one albums, still being just as fun, silly and brilliant as they are now. The Bullingdon has a capacity of 310 and it was an absolute privilege being one of those present for this event.
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