Live Review: High Vis bring genre shifting hardcore to XOYO in Digbeth

While their sound is rooted in the genre, over the course of three albums High Vis have pulled from across the musical spectrum into their sound – most notably 90s influenced indie and shoegaze – picking up legions of new fans along the way.

And, while their hardcore punk roots remain evident – the band’s foray into broadening their sound has been met with unexpected levels of success – something not lost on frontman Graham Sayle.

Throughout the band’s headline set at XOYO in Birmingham on Wednesday night, Sayle frequently pauses to not only explain he never foresaw the success High Vis would achieve, but also to explain that hardcore punk saved his life.

In October, High Vis released their latest album Guided Tour and this month they’ve been playing sold out shows across Europe and the UK ahead of two months touring across North America with Militarie Gun. While XOYO isn’t quite full to capacity, it was very nicely packed.

Joining High Vis on a wet winter’s night in Digbeth were Cruelty and Narrow Head.

The former kicked things off with probably the heaviest set of the night – not straying too far from the hardcore blueprint.

Like the headliners however, Texas’ Narrow Head took fans on a set sprinkled with callbacks to 90s influenced grunge sounds.

High Vis’ set was a pretty even split of tracks from across Guided Tour and its predecessors Blending and No Sense No Feeling.

Arriving on stage to the delay-soaked riff of opener Talk For Hours, High Vis kicked off proceedings with one of their most accessible tracks for anyone seeing them for the first time.

However, it’s successor, the far heavier Attitude, soon had Sayle bounding around, jumping into the air and punching out in-front of him whenever he wasn’t stood, face pressed up into the microphone at the front of the stage.

Back-to-back versions of Drop Me Out and Guided Tour were XOYO’s first taste of the band’s new material – with both sitting perfectly alongside the likes of 0151 from their debut which followed and was met with the first serious signs of life by the hundreds packed inside.

Despite not being the biggest of stages High Vis will have played on, XOYO still afforded the three guitarists which flanked Sayle a little space to move around in,

Between songs Sayle frequently paused to talk to those inside, whether it was about the impact of losing friends to suicide, the importance of talking about mental health and checking-in on friends or – ahead of Mob DLA - about the “dehumanising” tests certain people are subjected to in order to receive state support.

Minds A Lie and The B****** Inside were among the highlights of the night while High Vis ended their set with Choose To Lose.

Three albums in, High Vis deserve all the plaudits they’re receiving.

At times, Wednesday night felt it lacked a little of the chaotic energy levels from the crowd High Vis may be getting accustomed to, and Turnstile’s (presumed) 2020 record for the number of ‘hardcore kids backflipping off XOYO’s stage’, was never in danger of being topped.

However, the next time High Vis are back in Birmingham, if the trajectory they’re on continues, you’d bet on it being across town at a venue more than twice the size.

High Vis played:

Talk for Hours

Altitude

Walking Wires

Drop Me Out

Guided Tour

0151

Out Cold

Farringdon

Mob DLA

Forgot to Grow

Fever Dream

Mind's a Lie

Trauma Bonds

The B****** Inside

Choose to Lose