Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Fluidity is all the rage, fashionable even, it is perhaps an argument which is necessary in this day and age as we search for a wider definition of what it means to be human, what it means to be an individual. To be flexible in your thinking does not mean you are betraying your beliefs, just open-minded to the possibility that there is more than just your philosophy which shapes the world, and which has at one time guided the past.

To be open to change is the key to a longer and more fruitful life, to see that often the call to Please Remain Seated is not one in which you should take offence too, but instead relish, to be comfortable in your decision to be part of the show that is life and without being crushed by the sometimes conclusion in which hundreds of thoughts try to cram into the smallest of spaces possible.

It is an understanding that Thunder’s Luke Morley, Danny Bowes, Ben Matthews, Harry James and Chris Childs have taken to heart, that they have embraced with certainty and determination as they have seamlessly placed the past in front of them and seen that with change a set of songs can garner a different perception, a differing view. It is the fluidity of the modern world that makes art relevant and Please Remain Seated frames that point of view with clarity and enjoyment.

Opening your mind to seeing a path not taken is one of the benefits of having an imagination, the scale in which we can seek an answer to the question of What If?, is only as insurmountable as the effort put in place to realise what could be, and in songs such as Girls Going Out Of Her Head, I’m Dreaming Again, Just Another Suicide, Miracle Man, She’s So Fine, Low Life In High Places, Robert Johnson’s Tombstone, Higher Ground and Everybody Wants Her, Thunder delicately placate the style in which made their name, but also find a place in which to witness another view for a short time.

Thunder have never rested on the reef of certainty, they know that adaption is the key to changing times and styles, but in this fluid gesture of musical prowess they reach out in to the void and grasp something more than tangible, they hold firm to a value of creative genius to which few other bands will openly endeavour to open their minds too.

Please Remain Seated because the scenery and the view is outstanding.

Ian D. Hall