What happened back in 2005? Well, some major stuff: Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Florida and Louisiana, particularly in the city of New Orleans, and caused catastrophic damage from central Florida to eastern Texas. Hong Kong’s Disneyland opened.
The world’s largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, took to the skies from Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France. YouTube and Reddit were both launched. Starbucks opened its 10,000th coffeehouse. “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” was the most popular film.
Oh, and a new UK band dropped their debut album which went off like a missile. That band is The Subways. That album was “Young For Eternity”.
Two decades later The Subways is still going strong and currently on the road with a 10-date tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of said album.
The tour opened in Bristol on 5th November and tonight [20th Nov] they are in Portsmouth, before closing in London at The Electric Ballroom in Camden on Friday [21st].
Norwich is night eight of the run, before a 17-show trek around Europe which kicks off on Sunday in Paris and ends in Frankfurt on 14th December.
A good number of dates in the UK and overseas sold out, and the audiences range from stalwart fans who have supported the band from day one, to youngsters including sons and grandsons of the loyal fans who bought the first album when it came out.
The Subways formed in 2002 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, by Billy Lunn [guitar, lead vocals], Charlotte Cooper [bass, lead vocals], and original drummer Josh Morgan [Billy’s brother] who left the band in October 2020. Today, Camille Phillips [from The Ramonas] is the band’s drummer, since 2021.
“Young for Eternity,” was released on 4th July 2005 in the UK and 14th February 2006 in the US. Their second album, “All Or Nothing” appeared in June 2008 and third album “Money and Celebrity” came out in September 2011. Their self-titled fourth album was released on February 2015, and the most-recent album, “Uncertain Joys”, saw light of day in January 2023.
The band began as Mustard Seed and then Platypus before The Subways stuck – named after the subway underpass the original trio used to hang out in as youngsters in their home town. They won the Glastonbury Unsigned Performers competition in 2004 and won a slot at the festival.
SETLIST
Oh Yeah
Black Wax
We Don’t Need Money to Have a Good Time
Passenger’s Side
My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat
Holiday
Kalifornia
Mary
Popdeath
At 1am
Turnaround
I Want to Hear What You Have Got to Say
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Girls & Boys
ENCORE
I Need to Feel You Closer
With You
Rock & Roll Queen
“Rock & Roll Queen” is the song the band credit for taking them around the world for two decades [they put out a new version of it earlier this year], their third single and taken from their debut LP.
Live in Norwich, closing the set in the three-song encore it sounds as cracking as it did back then. That belting track featured in Guy Ritchie’s hit movie “RocknRolla”, the US TV drama “The OC” and a Kate Moss Rimmel advert.
The 16-song set, including the three-song encore, opened with early single “Oh Yeah” and then “Black wax”, and included the fabulous “At 1am”, which got its first national radio airplay from the late and legendary John Peel on BBC Radio 1. Still sounds tasty all these years later.
It was the band’s first single, recorded on City Pavement Records in 2004, and with Billy and Charlotte trading lead vocals. In the wake of its popularity as a single, they re-recorded it as a “hidden” track on the end of the debut album; the LP’s final track, “Somewhere” has a run -time of 11.23, and “At 1AM” starts at 9.32 after a lengthy period of silence.
They dip into all five albums in the set, and last three songs in the main set are bangers: “I Want to Hear What You Have Got To Say”, 2012 single “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and “Girls & Boys”, which precede the triple encore: “I Need To Feel You Closer”, “With You” and the mighty indie anthem “Rock & Roll Queen”.
During the set, Billy mentions the 20th anniversary of their first album and thanks everyone for “coming to our party” in Norwich, in this 700 capacity venue.
Competing with a sold out Wet Leg gig down the road on the same night, it was in no doubt The Subway’s fans would not be anywhere else even if Elvis Presley was spotted serving at the local chip shop, or Lord Lucan was galloping across Norfolk on Shergar.
Their fans love ’em. Like Paul from Suffolk in the accessible seating area, who told me he has been given two years to live, so he makes the effort to go to as many gigs as possible. Paul first saw The Subways on his first visit to Glastonbury Festival. Bless you Paul.
Opening up the show tonight with a promising 40-minute set was Crimson, a young trio formed in 2022 from Maidstone, Kent currently based in Brighton. Crimson Elliott is the lead singer alongside James Cairns on drums and Hannah Stevens on trumpet.
The Subways’ Charlotte Cooper and Billy Lunn seemingly have enough energy to power the electricity grid for Norfolk, even after 1,000+ gigs. Billy’s leaps in the air, and bassist Charlotte covering most of the stage as she paces and prowls through the gig, the band feeding off the energy of the fans and vice versa.
A lovely friendly and quite intimate atmosphere in the place, and you almost feel the band are playing only for you.
They dropped a new 24-track compilation in October: “When I’m With You”, available in double-vinyl, CD and digital formats. Including 15 songs in the set tonight which are on the new album. Including two newer ones, “Passenger’s Side” and “I Need To Feel You Closer”, the latter which premiered on last year’s tour and is the band’s current single.
Not a bum song tonight, so it is all good, but I really enjoyed song # seven in the set, “Kalifornia” and its rambunctious vibe. In fact, I loved it all; the whole night and one of the best live gigs of 2025 for me. Here’s to another 20 years…
- The best news is, Billy revealed tonight that album number six is work in progress. Methinks that means another tour will be on the cards to promote it. See you there…
