Friendly Fires, York Duchess

October 2, 2008

From the very first seconds of support act Jape‘s set, one thing is abundantly clear – their drum machine is way, way too loud, and this oversight would go on to mar most of their set. Admittedly, Jape seem to specialise in electro music that should sound at least vaguely unsettling, but with every synthetic bass drum hit sending a shudder through my body their set quickly turns into a nauseating test of endurance. It’s a shame, as when the problem is belatedly fixed towards the end of the set, I can begin to appreciate the ideas that the band are coming up with. A chaotic instrumental freakout at the end of ‘Floating’ provides some respite from the sicking bass thuds, and set-closer ‘I Was A Man’ finally succeeds in giving off the right vibes with its dark and twisted take on coming of age. It’s enough for me not to write the band off, but it’s unfortunate that most of their set was trampled over by the oppressive drums.

Friendly Fires suffer from no such problems, however, and proceed directly into the infectious jerk-pop of ‘Photobooth’, with the band displaying on no uncertain terms that they’re here to start an energetic party. The crowd only just seem to be getting warmed up though, so after their obligatory take on Frankie Knuckles‘ ‘Your Love’ and a heartfelt runthrough of ‘Skeleton Boy’, lead singer Ed Macfarlene decides to take matters into his own hands. He leaps into the crowd during the breakdown section of ‘White Diamonds’, and within seconds the front rows transform into a pogoing mass of bodies – and to his credit, Macfarlene still manages to keep singing even at the centre of the maelstrom.

Having got the crowd fired up, the band tease them a little with the slighty lower-tempo funk of ‘In The Hospital’, before laying into a slew of their most recognisable songs. First comes the swirling euphoria of recent single ‘Jump In The Pool’, which is followed up by ‘On Board’s infectious, pulsating Hot-Chip-meets-The-Rapture electro-punk. ‘Strobe’ mixes things up a little with a shoegazy feel, before the one-two punch of ‘Paris’ and ‘Ex-Lover’ rounds out the set – the former with skyscraper-sized, yearning chorus, and the latter with a massive instrumental breakdown which sees the band expend every last bit of energy they’ve got. And so, soaked in sweat, the band leave the stage to a rapturous applause.

Not only have they made one of the year’s most effortlessly listenable albums, they imbue those songs with a whole new energy when they play live. It may have been a fairly short set, but you certainly can’t say that Friendly Fires have given anything less than 100% tonight.

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