I was devastated to learn that Sundara Karma, one of my favourite indie rock bands of my youth would be parting ways – but their final ever concert was far from sad.
I expected the vibe to be a little melancholic as I arrived at the O2 Kentish Forum on a cold, wet Sunday night, ready to hear a band I loved play for the final ever time.
But just before the group set foot on stage, the tone for the night was set as they blasted Stay Another Day by East 17 through the speakers.
The band then quickly bounded onto the stage and smashed into one of their hit songs A Young Understanding.
As the first pint of beer was chucked by a crowd member and a mosh pit formed in the middle of the room, I realised any preconceived idea about this being a bittersweet affair was nonsense.
This was a big fat celebration of 13 years of great music and love between a band with members who have known each other since they were eight.
The band comprised of lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Oscar Pollock, lead guitarist Ally Baty, bassist Dom Cordell and drummer Haydn Evans.
The foursome played a harmonious mix of their greatest hits ranging across their albums – regrettably not playing one of their underrated hits Vivienne, but I’ll let that slide on account of the setlist built to hit all their most loved hits and not just my favourites.
It may be easy to think that the band would be a polished well-oiled machine after over a decade together, but they were every inch the carefree rockband with stands being knocked over on stage and mic cables getting tangled as the lead singer Oscar Pollock launched himself into the crowd twice, during the performance while security guards looked on in terror.
It seemed there was a unanimous agreement within the crowd that this was our last chance to celebrate this band, so I imagine there were a lot of sore throats after singing, no, screaming the lyrics for the last time.
I think I may have accidentally whacked a few people and even thrown my shoulder out after dancing to One Last Night on This Earth – the perfect song to end their set.
Or at least the perfect song to pretend to end on as they returned for their encore of Explore and Flame, two of their most popular songs with their fanbase.
During the performance, I was shocked to be reminded that the band members are in their late twenties, with Oscar telling fans he was 29.
After being in a group for their teenage years and almost the entireties of their twenties it doesn’t feel quite so surprising that the band are ready to move onto something different – and made me feel quite hopeful knowing that maybe this was only the first step in their music careers.
The band confirmed in September 2024 that this would be their final hoorah with the band announcing: ‘As we’ve grown, so have our hopes and dreams, and we’re ready to explore new things. It’s not goodbye to music—it’s just time for us to step away from making music as Sundara Karma.’
Oscar again reminded fans during the set: ‘This is the last time we will sing this song,’ but then added: ‘We mostly mean it.’
Whether they regroup in years to come or carve a path elsewhere, I’m pretty hopeful for their future as individuals. After last night’s performance, it’s clear they have more to give.
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