The Clause: The Weekend Millionaires perform live at the 02 Institute

The Clause headline Birmingham’s 02 institute to close their nationwide tour.

To promote the release of the Brummie bands second studio album- ‘Weekend Millionaire’- The Clause ended their tour at a hometown gig just around the corner from their first ever live show in Digbeth.

The success of the indie quartet over the last few years is undeniable. From playing at grassroot venues such as XOYO (which was once The Mill), to releasing their debut album ‘Pop Culture’, supporting popular band, The K’s and now selling out the 02 Institute, The Clause’s road to fame most definitely looks strong.

To kickstart the well-anticipated event were supporting acts from Tom A. Smith and Seb Lowe who both had an amazing stage presence and brought catchy melodies and strong vocals to warm up the crowd waiting the main show. 

What shocked me the most about the evening was the diverse audience range that came to support the four-piece. As an upcoming indie band consisting of four young people, you would typically expect to see young adidas-wearing football lovers in the crowd but this was not the case. 

Long queues of fans both young and old, men and women, Brummies and even some Scottish (!) came to show their love to the band and this, to me, really reflected the diversity of todays music scene but also demonstrated the consistency and reliability in the certain genres that people have always loved and still love today.

As the time got closer to when the band would come on stage, you could almost feel the anticipation throughout the crowd. The smiles on everybody’s faces, the bounce of their knees and the chanting: “oo, aa, up The Clause, say oo, aa, up The Clause” truly encapsulated the love fans have for the four and certainly showed how entranced they were when they came on stage.

The band played a wide variety of songs from across their two EP’s (‘Pop Culture’ and ‘Weekend Millionaire’) such as ‘Fake it’ and ‘Take Me Home’ as well as their hit singles: ‘Sixteen’, ‘Time of Our Lives, and ‘In My Element’. Although a good range of their best songs, I would have loved the inclusion of ‘Cruella’ but maybe this was the groups way of leaving fans wanting more.

Fans love how uplifting, inspirational and realistic their songs are. Discussing topics like escaping weekday stresses, the struggles and naivety of being young and regretting decisions made in your past all make The Clause as great as they are now.

Breaking away from the fast paced nature of the bands melodies, the group took a turn and performed ‘Where Are You Now?’- a slow ballad song in tribute of lead singer, Pearce McMenamin’s, late brother. It was really beautiful to see how quiet the crowd got, not in boredom but in awe and reflection. Pearce asked for everybody to sing along in remembrance to anyone who they have lost and the crowd did exactly that.

The venue lit up with the torches on peoples phones swaying from side and side and I even spotted a few tears in people eyes. To me, this highlighted how much the very loved band, as well as the song, means to the fans.

In all, The Clause get better every time I see them and this is not their peak. Let’s hope that the boys can continue with their path of success thus far, resulting in them becoming  a household name which is what they deserve.