Miles Barter hails The Restarts as his favourite three-piece since The Jam

In November 2013, Louder Than War published a review by Miles Barter of a show by The Restarts at The Grosvenor in Stockwell, south London. The piece appeared on 14 November of that year, and looking back, it stands among the most enthusiastic notices the band's live work received. The Restarts were a three-piece, and Barter's review was concerned almost entirely with what they did on stage that night.

The headline comparison came early. Barter described The Restarts as his favourite three-piece since The Jam, a claim that placed the band in a demanding lineage and signalled that he regarded them as more than a passing diversion. He also paid close attention to the relationship between band and audience. In his account, the group connected with the room easily, building a rapport that seemed to arrive without effort and carried the crowd along with it.

His admiration extended to the music itself. Barter singled out the way the band moved between hardcore punk and ska, with transitions that felt seamless rather than abrupt. Shifts in pace and mood were handled with confidence, so that a mix of styles which could have sounded like a medley instead came across as a single, coherent performance. The point was made in practical terms: he was impressed by how natural the changes felt in the room.

The review also argued that the show grew over its course. Barter said the set got better and better as it went on, so that the closing stretch felt stronger than what came before. For a live act, that kind of arc matters, and it gave the piece a sense of momentum that matched the praise. The verdict was built as much on the trajectory of the night as on any single song or moment.

The only reservation Barter recorded concerned the audience rather than the band. He noted that the crowd did not build a human pyramid, and he counted this as his one disappointment. Set against the rest of the piece, it reads as a light aside in an otherwise warm account, and it underlines how little else he found to criticise.

As a snapshot of how The Restarts were regarded live in 2013, the review says a good deal. No numerical rating accompanied it, so the strength of the praise rests entirely on the prose. Yet the emphasis on rapport, stylistic fluency and a set that improved as it progressed suggests a band whose reputation was built in the room, and Barter's comparison to The Jam was a clear statement of where he placed them.