CONCERT REVIEW: New Rules

Opening night for New Rules’ 2021 headline tour was in Cardiff’s The Globe and what a way to start a tour.

The three piece band completely took over the Welsh venue, which was full to the doors with excited fans ready to finally see the band live, after the tickets went on sale nearly two years ago. Since forming in 2019, the trio have toured with pop sensations Little Mix and Julia Michaels, and now they’re embarking on their biggest headline tour to date.

The show opened with up-and-coming singer Nathan Gurd who has recently finished his own headline tour and is now taking to the road with the pop band. The English singer entered from the side of the stage to a roar of cheers from fans who already knew his name, to open the show with his 2020 single “Nobody Else”. Complete with his charismatic dancers, Nathan hyped up the crowd with his energetic stage presence, controlled vocals and catchy original tracks.

Next to entertain the crowd was the second of the three Nathan’s performing tonight; Nathan Smoker. The singer, who was a contestant on the voice earlier this year, blew away the entire audience with his incredibly powerful vocals and exceptional stage presence. He owned the stage with a mix of covers as well as a few originals and hyped the audience ready for New Rules to take the stage.

The band finally entered from the side of the stage to a roar of cheers as they dived straight into their latest single “”Really Wanna Dance With You”. The trio, that consists of members Ryan, Alec and Nathan, had the entire room singing along to all of their catchy tracks; as well as a surprise cover of Justin Bieber’s “Stay” which mixed in with a new track of theirs almost sounded like it could be an original. Not only were the band’s vocals on point but their charming and charismatic personalities radiated throughout the show, particularly when Alec stopped a song half-way through because a fan at the front needed water plus Ryan’s ability to cease any awkwardness when they had sound difficulties. The band made a constant effort to engage and interact with their fans throughout the set, particularly Nathan who would talk to fans in the front row between songs.

Fan engagement seemed to be a strong theme throughout the night as the band had a section called “Name Songs” which avid fans will notice is related to an array of TikTok videos the band have made where they write a song based on a fans name. Cardiff’s lucky fan was Mia, who the band explained they wrote a song backstage for, after seeing a tweet from her earlier in the day. This section led into a performance of their original name song “Emily” which had the entire crowd singing along to the band’s catchy and creatively written vocals.

As well as fan favourites from their released hits, the band sang a few unheard originals, including the next single “Cheers” which as announced yesterday, is out the 3rd December. If the rest of the tour is anything like their opening night, New Rules fans throughout the country are in for a treat.

You can get tickets for the rest of the tour here and presave their new single “Cheers” now!!

Photo Credit: https://instagram.com/raquia.takes.photos?utm_medium=copy_link

Thanks so much to TEG, SJM Concerts and New Rules for letting me come down to review the show!