On Saturday night YAK returned to Bristol to play another night at Start the Bus, having played in February earlier this year. Arriving just as the set began, the atmosphere was palpable. The freezing cold evening had attracted a huge crowd of mostly sweaty and mostly young men, who crammed into the lower section of Start the Bus’s tiny split-level performance space.
By 9:30 everyone was already buzzing with energy and clearly were warmed up by support sets from Human Bones and Abattoir Blues. The band filled the small space with their almost tangibly large sound, matching the crowd’s high energy and the three piece’s undeniable charisma. Their music did not disappoint, completely living up to expectations from the first song, ‘Hungry Heart’. ‘Hungry Heart’ was released in early 2015 ahead of the band’s first few small-scale sets. Their first few appearances were long awaited by fans who were aware of YAK’s history moonlighting Peace, and frontman Oli Burslem’s past in an elusive psych band.
Elements of psych still remain in songs like ‘Smile’, which easily warranted the most energetic crowd response, with brutal moshpits in the too-small space. Shorter members of the crowd were quickly pushed back away from the stage as the mass motion pushed braver members forward into a mess of erratic dancing and headbanging. Kudos to the boy at the front who tried and failed three times to crowdsurf, only to be spectacularly upstaged by Burslem in the penultimate song. Burslem stage dived onto the waiting arms of a crowd eager to push him up high enough to grab Start the Bus’ massive disco ball, leaving it swinging for the remainder of the gig. The final song was the first from YAK’s hugely successful EP of the same name: Plastic People. Starting with a painstakingly slow and drawn out collection of riffs and twangs, gradually building up until the crowd was in a frenzy – and this all before the band even added their harsh, shouty vocals to the mix in the longest rendition of ‘Plastic People’ the band have ever played.
By time the band left the stage the audience were thoroughly exhausted but still buzzing, it was hard to believe the set only lasted 40 minutes.