Shame at the Sinclair, 5/16/23

On one unassuming Bostonian Tuesday night, the young British rockers of band Shame took to the Sinclair stage, briefly surveyed the crowd, and promptly launched into the fervent opener “Fingers of Steel.” 

Almost immediately, I felt the crowd behind me lurch back and forth – my fellow audience members were clearly revved up and ready to go. The blistering “Alibis” and “Alphabet” followed, both of which saw frontman Charlie Steen shout into the mic with such intensity that I worried he’d yell himself hoarse well before the night was over.

What became obvious to me basically as soon as Shame’s set started was that these guys are straight up rock stars. Steen’s stage presence was commanding – he would grip the mic and arc backwards, strut up to the very edge of the stage and lean over the crowd, and do this thing where he’d jog in place while shaking his torso as if to limber himself up. Bassist Josh Finnerty was just as much of a ball of energy as Steen, taking running starts as he leapt and bounced across the stage throughout the set. And it wasn’t very long before drummer Charlie Forbes took his shirt off to help facilitate his frenzied playing style.

A couple of songs in, Steen addressed the crowd for the first time. “Boston – I promise, we are gonna get hot and sweaty tonight,” he insisted as he finally took off his unbuttoned shirt and cast it aside. “We were here not too long ago – we put out a new album since then, and are so glad to be here again playing it for you” he remarked, referencing their most recent album Food for Worms, which was released earlier this year. He conducted a quick poll of the crowd to gauge who amongst them had come to their last show – indeed, quite a large proportion of the crowd raised their hands, displaying just how devoted Shame’s fans are to the band.

Shame played through several other tracks such as “Six Pack” with its addictive wah-wah tones, the thumping Drunk Tank Pink highlights “6/1” and “Born in Luton,” and the rapid-fire – almost rapped, really – “Lampoon.” 

“Adderall (End of the Line),” a gut-busting and painfully sincere song about watching a loved one struggle with an addiction to prescription drugs, was a brief reprieve from the mosh that hadn’t stopped since the show started. Steen conducted a classic call-and-response bit, holding his mic out to the crowd who shouted the track’s titular refrain right back at him. There is definitely a communal energy in a mosh, but “Adderall (End of the Line)” was proof that Shame’s fans can connect with each other beyond raging in a pit.

The band began to close the show soon thereafter, concluding with crowd favorite “One Rizla,” “Snow Day,” and “Gold Hole.” On that last track Steen gestured to the crowd, who held their hands up to form a platform for him to walk on. While Steen had ventured into the crowd many times prior during the set, this particularly striking showing cemented (at least for me) Shame’s status as one of the highest-energy live acts touring today.