Delivering an excellent evening full of surfer rock and laid back vibes, Ocean Alley, Hockey Dad and CVC all helped deliver a surfer rocking retro evening that matched the retro aesthetics of the O2 Institute in Birmingham.
Starting the evening was Welsh six piece CVC who delivered an appropriately head bopping and swaying opening set which started with melodic and laid back tracks before culminating in a flurry of high tempo, fast rocking finale.
Following this was the first of the two Australian acts, Hockey Dad. A straight up, no frills rock band who delivered exactly that, heavy drum beats, rocking guitar solos and melancholic 90s esque lyrics. Performing a variety of hits from their entire catalogue, and despite some technical difficulties during their final song, they rocked hard and warmed the crowd up perfectly for Ocean Alley.
The crowd had a short wait before Ocean Alley cooly sauntered onto the stage being with them the immaculate and chilled out vibes they’re best known for. Ocean Alley’s excellent combination of lead singer’s Baden Donegal delightfully soulful, smooth voice and the surfer rocking, psychedelic guitar solos, washed over and enthralled the swaying crowd.
I also want to give some major props to Baden’s voice, as he makes it seem so effortless to hit such constant and smooth notes whilst captivating the crowd with the coolest of auras.
The majestic and timeless feel of their music was really hammered home by the wide variety of fans in the crowd. There were groups of every age, race and gender standing and swaying to the music as well loved-up couples of every generation, even the security guards couldn’t resist the motion of the Ocean.
Ocean Alley really took the audience on a musical tour of their discography, starting with “Touch Back Down” from their newest album Low Altitude Living, then interweaving between songs from Chiaroscuro, such as “Knees” & “The Comedown”, as well as hits from Lonely Diamond (“Tombstone”) and Lost Tropics (“Partner In Crime”) to name but a few.
They also treated the audience with “Yellow Mellow” from their 2013 EP of the same name, all the way up to a sneak peek at an upcoming, as of time of writing, unreleased song. For the trio of songs finale, it was kicked off with the band’s viral sensation “Confidence”, followed by “Happy Sad” and an excellent encore of “Lemonworld”.
As if it wasn’t hard to tell from this write-up, it was a thoroughly excellent show and quite possibly my favourite show of 2024. CVC and Hockey Dad were excellent support acts who set the mood for the night before Ocean Alley came out and stole the show.
With their unwavering and strongly growing fan-base over here in the UK, I hope they continue to find more and more success so they can quickly come back and charm even more people with their melodic, retro surfer rock anthems.
Words + photography by Sam Huntley
