Where some gigs are remembered for the music, others for the atmosphere, Tooth’s headline show at Clwb Ifor Bach comfortably managed both.

Following the release of their debut EP 'Restless In Bloom', the London outfit made a welcome return to Cardiff’s musical epicentre on Womanby Street. Having previously played to a handful of people across the road at Fuel Rock Bar, the band’s recent rise was evident in the turnout, with Clwb’s downstairs packed from front to back.

Within moments of their entrance, the room felt on the edge of boiling over. With no air conditioning, and the fans once found above absent, Clwb quickly became a sweatbox. Every jump, shove and singalong seemed to push the temperature higher, yet the crowd showed no sign of slowing down, feeding off the band’s energy as Tooth dived straight into it.

What began as a lively room soon became a sea of bodies moving in unison, hands aloft and voices raised. For a band with just an EP to their name, the level of audience investment felt striking, with lyrics already being shouted back at full volume - an impressive feat given their debut single had only been released a matter of months earlier.

While Tooth’s reputation is built on explosive live energy, the set also showcased their range. The Age of Innocence landed particularly well, its anthemic qualities drawing the room inward, while Wallflower offered a brief shift in pace, a reminder that the band are just as effective when they ease off the accelerator. 

There was also a glimpse of what comes next. Nestled among familiar material was the live debut of an unreleased track, giving Cardiff an early taste of forthcoming work. Though still fresh, it slotted naturally into the set and suggested that Tooth are already thinking beyond the material that has brought them this far.

Across the set, Tooth’s knack for writing huge, cathartic hooks translated effortlessly to the live setting, with the crowd carrying as much of the energy as the band themselves as they chanted for Medicine between songs - only for frontman Tom to respond with a grin and an “all in good time” quip. When the track finally arrived, the reaction was one of the loudest of the night.

Despite a technical fault that briefly threatened to halt proceedings when both guitars and the microphone cut out, the percussion rolled on uninterrupted as it filled the space. It was a small moment, but one that underlined just how much momentum the band had built. Rather than breaking the atmosphere it only intensified it, with the crowd locked in until the sound returned for a climactic finish.

As the crowd called for one more song, Tooth obliged, returning to the stage for a cover of Generation X’s Dancing With Myself. Frontman Tom Pollock even joined the chaos, crowd-surfing and clinging to the venue’s rafters as the room erupted one final time.

What makes Tooth such an exciting prospect isn’t just the strength of the material they’ve released so far, but how much they are already getting from it. On paper, a set built around a single EP shouldn’t be enough to command a room this completely. Yet inside Clwb Ifor Bach, it felt like the beginning of something much bigger. 

As the catalogue grows, so too will the shows. And if this performance is anything to go by, Tooth are only just getting started.

***** 

i: https://www.instagram.com/toothband