Syteria gig at Chesterfield’s Real Time Live goes down a storm with fans starved of live music

The global pandemic resulted in the closure of the entertainment industry, along with virtually everything else, in mid-March.

Now live music has been permitted to return to indoor venues with limitations and restrictions in capacity to allow for social distancing.

Seven long months of no live music has been incredibly difficult for venues, musicians (with many unable to earn any money at all) and music fans alike.

Live streams on the internet have been welcome but it is not the same as seeing an actual live gig when band and audience are in the same room with the electric atmosphere of anticipation and instantaneous reaction.

Unusual for a traditional standing-only venue, Real Time Live in Chesterfield has a seating policy and table service to comply with Covid-19 regulations. It felt strange but I soon got used to the new rules.

This set-up is a small price to pay in order to have live music back.

Ironically the last band I saw at this venue back in March was Syteria and it seemed only fitting that the first band I get to see at the same venue with the partial relaxation of the lockdown was Syteria.

Real Time Live has coped really well with this gig being the first with two bands on the bill and the venue and town complying with the regional enforcement of tier two. I felt very safe.

Support band, A Joker Among Thieves did a superb job of warming up the fans. With their brand of metal with a nod to thrash, new EP, Get Up will be worth checking out when it is released.

Headliners, punk/rock band, Syteria, turned out another stunning live performance with a fast paced engaging show. The banter among the group members as well as between audience and band was witty.

The band is Pablo Calvo on drums/backing vocals, Steph Dawson (ex Scream of Sirens) on bass/backing vocals, Jackie Chambers (Girlschool) on lead guitar/backing vocals and Julia Calvo (rhythm guitar/lead vocals). The musicianship is second to none; this is one incredibly tight unit.

Julia Calvo is the consummate front person, an incredible voice and very engaging personality, she certainly knows how to work a crowd. Jackie Chambers is a criminally underrated guitarist and an exceptionally gifted songwriter who has written the bulk of the group’s two albums.

Right from the opening song to the dying notes of the closing track Syteria had the audience eating of their hands. This high octane and slickly delivered show was just what we gig goers needed after being starved of live music for so long. This run of shows of the Reflection tour (cut short in March) has been amusingly dubbed Pandemic 2020.

The set was made up of originals and one cover, a stunning version of the Ramones’ classic Rockaway Beach. Goodbye World from second album Reflection made its live debut in the set tonight and was well- received as was new song Talk Too Much which worked really well live.

Other set highlights for me were Get A Life, Gossips, Reflection, I’m All Woman, Revolution, Hypocrite, Makes Some Noise and When I Get Out Of High School. The set ended with the track Halloween, very appropriate for the time of year.

The show was excellent, making up for the pain of the last few months.

Syteria never fail to deliver. A great night.