It has been nearly two years since The Subways last hit Paris at Petit Bain with Ash, and the English trio returned celebrating both their twentieth anniversary and the release of When I’m With You, a compilation that traces their entire journey. The new songs on that record made their way into the setlist and held their own beside the band’s established staples. Opening with a full blown anthem like "Oh Yeah" sets a high bar, yet The Subways have the catalogue to match it. "Mary," "We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time," "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," "With You" and the inevitable closer "Rock & Roll Queen" each sent the room into chaos. Mosh pits opened almost instantly, with frontman Billy Lunn even joining the crowd surfing during the fake encore. For eighty minutes the band delivered pure cathartic punk rock, driven by Lunn’s positive energy, Charlotte Cooper’s manic presence on bass and Camille Phillips’ ferocious drumming. They walked off looking as drained and as exhilarated as the room in front of them, a fitting way to mark two decades of noise, melody and wholehearted joy.
