Liverpool at its very best: The night Keyside were announced on the big stage

Keyside’s sold-out O2 Academy headline show in Liverpool was a culmination of all that is good about Merseyside and its music community.

This was all that is great about Liverpool’s culture. This was fandom and community; these were melodies and anthems but with real substance driving the music.

As catchy as Keyside’s songs are, Dani-Lee Parker is no slogan composer, he writes songs.

With short tracks that are hardly raucous or bulging with rip-roaring solos, you may question how such a band converts from Spotify to the stage.

Well, Keyside pass the test with flying colours.

What was once a raw quartet, camera shy and static on stage, is now a group of performers confident in their craft – and so they should be.

With influences ranging from historical events to French artists and 1980s bands, Parker composes songs for the masses but with somewhat of a niche underbelly.

The touch of culture that filters through their work opened the sold-out Liverpool O2 Academy show.

Chinese lions from Liverpool Hung Gar Kung Fu populated the stage as the group came on to loud applause from a crowd well warmed up by The Cases and The Kowloons – the latter a perfect accompaniment as the next great indie group on the Merseyside conveyor belt.

As the band entered, a slowed-down version of Nikita created an eerie atmosphere on stage before Ben Cassidy’s unmistakeable opening lick gave life to the room.

Within a few minutes and as he karate kicked the microphone stand, frontman Parker was visibly sweating, but he didn’t slow down and neither did the quality of the set.

For all the catchy riffs and well-written melodies, it was arguably the rendition of Michael (What’s Your Call?) that provided the occasion to remember.

Slower than the rest, Parker introduced it as ‘personal’, but this was a moment for the masses as the crowd sang in unison for Michael to let his feelings out.

Latest release Rock My Love was also a highlight.

While the group introduced the audience to the song slowly, reciting the simple chorus on the acoustic guitar, they needn’t have taken the time as their fans already knew the score.

By the end of the night, they had played their full 12-song discography plus a Sally Cinnamon introduction to closer Angeline, dedicated to The Stones Roses’ late bass player, Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield.

This is a group lifted by and for their fans. TikTok has helped to spread their music to other parts of the country, but it is Liverpool in which they retain their roots.

Everyone wants to see them do well. This isn’t a group of music snobs or too-cool-for-school rockers; when time allows they regularly still attend smaller shows around the city.

The community they have built came out in force on Friday night and, as Parker shouted ‘This is our city’ over the last remnants of outro song Mersey Paradise, you couldn’t help but think they are well on their way to that becoming their reality.