Alt-J (Manchester Academy 2013): Review

Alt-J – Review

Manchester Academy

9^th May 2013

It is incredible what Alt-J have achieved on the back of a single album. Before the gig, someone asked me the question - what are they like? And I stuttered my way through the answer. After seeing them live I am no closer to shaping a solid response to that question, but I can say that they are a band with a massive future.

With chance to carefully pick my words here, I’ll have a go at describing the unique sound that Alt-J have added to the UK’s ever-expanding arsenal of music. Their sounds and song structure justify their inclusion in the experimental rock genre. Bands who inhabit this genre often fail through the alienation which comes when breaking away from the norm. Without a connection with an audience, no matter how impressive the actual musical talent is, a band can never truly succeed. Alt- J are one of the exceptions. They combine memorable keyboard and guitar riffs with lead singer Joe Newman’s exceptional voice to create something quite special.  

There have been many comparisons with Radiohead, and I see how this idea may have come about. I don’t entirely disagree with the statement, but I would say it is premature, for if you played Alt-J’s debut An Awesome Wave back to back with Radiohead’s Pablo Honey there would be an obvious shift in theme and genre. The comparisons with Thom Yorke and co seem more justified when you examine them next to the other artists who were appearing at the time, their sound was unique then, just as Alt-J’s is unique now.

Manchester Academy was packed, it had sold out months ago (forcing me to pay an extortionate amount on eBay) and there was a warm buzz of expectancy from a crowd highly populated by students. The band members were quick in making their way onstage, in front of the bizarre tangles of the An Awesome Wave themed backdrop. They opened with album opener Intro, followed by a song in which Newman and the majority of the crowd confessed “Triangles are my favourite shape”. Tessellate has the formula to become a modern day anthem.

It was nice to experience a truly relaxed crowd, who danced and sung their way through the radio friendly Something Good, this venue was a clearly filled with people united by their love for a single album. It can be guessed from their onstage performance that Alt-J are a shy and extremely modest bunch of lads, as they do not attempt to work the audience much at all. In fact, their performance mirrors the crowd, as they seem to simply enjoy the songs they play as much as the fans enjoy hearing them. Stage presence is not their strong point, but the perfect song recreations backed with a frantic lightshow goes some way in making up for this.

An early highlight of the gig was Dissolve Me, which featured a goose bump conjuring vocal harmony that led back to the tropical sounding keys. The band do not tend to extend their songs as you may expect, but an improvised addition of Newman’s voice can add a dimension to the song that will stick with you; I can no longer listen to Dissolve Me without the memory of one of these moments hitting me.

I have to thank Manchester Academy for the booming bass of their sound system. It was necessary for fan favourite Fitzpleasure, which shook the place as the bass line hit, Newman swaying from side to side after he signalled the trip-hop beats with lyrics (to the effect of) “in your snatch fitzpleasure, a broom shaped pleasure”. This was followed by a cover of Kylie Minogue’s Slow Dre, which would have easily passed as for an unknown song of their own to anyone who did not have a look at the set list. One of the many qualities of the album is that everyone seems to have a different favourite. This helps the live show as each song receives a similarly colossal ovation; tracks such as Matilda, Bloodflood and Ms kept this flow going strong. 

After a forgivable false start (Newman got carried away with the “na na na na nas”), Alt-J dropped their most well known track, Breezeblocks. This received the best audience reaction, fans climbed on the shoulders of their friends to show appreciation to the band and the majority of the audience was bouncing by the “please don’t go” section of the song.

A note on the encore: when they left the stage it was one of the most continually loud roars for a band to return to the stage I have ever heard! The set up to this point was much appreciated. Again, they didn’t keep the crowd waiting too long, and returned with album track Hand-Made and a cover of College’s A Real Hero (which you may have heard during the Ryan Gosling fronted film, Drive).

Taro remained to supply a strong finish. In previous live reviews, many reported that Gwil Sainsbury’s finger-tapping, bhangra-esque riff was overpowered by the rest of the band in the live setting. I don’t know if they have read these reviews, or even just noticed on their own backs, but for me, it all came together perfectly. The audience thrived off the song, shouting “hey Taro” in unison after the familiar crunch of the strikingly dark guitar. The gig flew by. It was only an hour long, the shortest I’ve attended this year, but after playing the brilliant An Awesome Wave in its entirety, plus some b-sides and covers, Alt-J can be forgiven for this.

Verdict: Alt-J seem to have hastily grown into a more successful band than they could have possibly imagined when they first started writing music in their student halls in Leeds. With an already remarkable amount of crowd-pleasing songs, another album of similar quality could propel them to festival headline slots (they are already headlining the Reading/Leeds NME tent this year), in similar fashion to Arcade Fire’s sudden emergence to bill topping heights in 2010. Alt-J’s main strength seems to be touring on the back of a Mercury Prize winning debut album, there isn’t too much they can do wrong when they can recreate its much loved songs so flawlessly live. There is some room for improvement in terms of stage presence but with some of the most powerful harmonies in music and unmistakable instrumental talent there is more than enough to enjoy.

   

Biffy Clyro (Manchester Arena 2013): Review

Biffy Clyro: Review

Manchester Arena

25^th March 2013

2013 is proving to be a huge year for Biffy Clyro. First they scored a UK number one album (which really is a triumph in today’s pop dominated charts), then they were announced as headliners for Leeds and Reading festivals, all before embarking on a massive stadium tour. 

I would love to be able to say that I have been with Biffy from the start, that I saw them playing tiny shows during their Blackened Skies days, and have followed their releases from their debut to the new ambitious double album: Opposites. Alas, I was one of the many people who never came across Biffy Clyro until they broke through the surface of rock in 2009 with Only Revolutions and its steady string of strong singles. Since then, the band have become one of the UK’s biggest rock acts, appealing to different people in different ways, drawing fans of all different ages and background.

Previous to the Manchester gig, I had only seen Biffy in a festival setting, back at Leeds Festival 2010 while Simon Neil was in his blonde-beard, pink-skinnies stage. They made an impression on me with their live show then, providing one of my festival highlights: Neil launching an unruly amp offstage after it decided play up at the start of Many of Horror.

The Scottish rockers were greeted with the kind of roar that can only be made from an arena at maximum capacity. Simon Neil appeared first, taking his place in front of a huge white curtain that blocked the main bulk of the stage whilst the opening synth of Different People marked the beginning of the coming twenty six song set. As Simon reached the chorus alone, lights began to glow behind the curtain, revealing the silhouette of an enormous skeletal tree along with the rest of the waiting band. When the curtain (and the song) dropped, this gig truly began.

And the band did not mess around early doors. They started at 8:30 which is earlier than most concerts I have attended at Manchester Arena and if any fans arrived late they would have missed some huge songs. They wasted no time in racing into That Golden Rule, Neil made use of one of the long walkways that branched off into the crowd for the intense breakdown. The early part of the set list was Opposites heavy, and it included the successful single release Black Chandelier, which definitely proved itself as an anthem in the arena setting.

It was during Modern Magic Formula (which is one of Opposites’ heavier moments) when I realized that the crowd was far from what I expected. My preconceptions of a Biffy Clyro gig were that it would be quite chaotic in terms of mosh pit action and that there would be but few moments where the rock concert crush would let up.  However the crowd was quite relaxed and there was actually more singing and dancing than there was anything else in the early stages. Biffy’s rise to rock royalty has brought a royally mixed audience and I doubt these kinds of large shows will recapture the atmosphere I have heard so much about from their past tours. This isn’t necessarily a negative point in the grand scheme of things; the arena shows definitely have their strengths.

The set continued to merge old and new songs, and despite the changes the band have undergone over the years the lesser known oldies and the album tracks from Opposites held their own beside each other, each bringing something different from what is rapidly becoming an impressive back catalogue. Justboy created a golden atmosphere; the band members looked down from their giant screens as the crowd responded loudly to one of Biffy’s earlier anthems.

Experiencing their live show fully proved to me their incredible talent as a tight three piece band. The vocal harmonies, often driven by the surprising power of drummer Ben Johnston, were superb throughout the entire show.  As a guitarist, the intro of Living is a Problem Because Everything Dies still baffles me, as its lack of pattern and its irrational timing would prove a challenge to even the most adventurous musicians. They nailed it, as expected. Neil advanced down a walkway to one of the in crowd stages and performed the entire song there, with trademark head-twitches as each stabbing note hit.

Bubbles was probably the best song for crowd participation, with the majority of the crowd bouncing along and then either taking cover or getting involved with the madness that took place during the song’s famous breakdown. I couldn’t get recently released single Biblical out of my head pre-gig and perhaps I wasn’t the only one, as it received a similar response to Black Chandelier. Simon Neil moved to the opposite platform and this time it was bassist James Johnston who appeared closest to where we were stood, where he preformed his large part in the song admirably.    

After the insane screams of There’s No Such Thing as a Jaggy Snake (in which a mosh pit seemingly opened just to smash one innocent spectator, then closed again) the tempo of the set slowed, with Neil remaining in place to play an acoustic version of God and Satan amongst a sea of people. Despite being unable to see him at this point, the hundreds of glows from mobile phones and lighters was a spectacular sight

. 

The full band returned to play an epic rendition of The Thaw, where Neil stepped away from the microphone in his Johnny Depp-esc way and cried the lyrics “the only thing to see us through” to a delighted seated area . They finished this portion of the set with another incredible solo acoustic effort, he returned to the stage in front of us to play Machines. It was a breath-taking moment, summed up by one kid who pushed to get as close as possible to Simon then screamed “that was the best moment of my life!” to his friend when the song concluded.

The set then continued in the same vain as before, taking songs from various albums and playing them with an intense passion which I am certain was nothing of an act. The mangled Biffy tree also turned out to have a tree house stage where Neil climbed to before the blazing Puzzle classic - Who’s Got a Match?

The conclusion of the set was home to a few big songs from Only Revelations, along with a few other good choices from the new album. Many of Horror in particular brought the house down. I had an amusing mental image of Matt Cardle’s head exploding as Neil put the punctuation mark of a “D” at the end of the final howling “hit me hard”. The final pre-encore song was the Only Revelations lead single The Captain, where Biffy powered on with the same energy that began twenty two songs earlier. They left the stage to deafening arena cheers which continued long into the encore and then subsided into continuous chants of “mon the Biff”.

The three song encore began with Skylight, in which Simon Neil climbed the stairs to the tree top stage and performed, at first, lit by the just the lava lamp lighting, before then being engulfed by a full scale light show in the second half of the song. It should be noted that he doesn’t over-preform like some lead singers tend to. He picked his moment here to remain reasonably still in this elevated position; his stage presence even at this point superseding any amount of thrashing and jumping around that a run-of-the-mill rock singer could muster.

There is usually at least one song at a concert that I underestimate its live sound, for Biffy Clyro this was Stinging Belle. It sounds a hell of a lot heavier live, some of the more crunching riffs were real ear poppers and even without the inclusion of the bagpipes, the outro of the song sent shivers down my spine.

And to close, Mountains was the perfect candidate to end the amazing set. The most vivid image that remains with me from the night as a whole is Neil running down the ramp towards the stage closest to us, sweat flying from his hair, and blaring out the line “nothing lasts forever, except you and me” with one last push of energy. The set fittingly ended with the entire band and audience singing the final line “I am a mountain, I am the sea” in acapella unison. This brought an end to one huge show.                        

Verdict: Despite not being what I expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the show from start to finish. It seems a Biffy show has many different levels and layers that contribute to the experience described. It feels like there is a lot going on due to the massive production value and the long set, but in reality Biffy Clyro just boss the stage the same way they have always done, now they just have the show and audience they have earned. I look forward to seeing how they tackle the festival headline slots this summer. Mon the Biff!  

Foals (Leeds Metropolitan University 2013): Review

Foals: Review

Leeds Metropolitan University

9^th March 2013

Flashback to 2010: a younger version of myself was standing in the very same venue waiting for Foals to take the stage. This was at a time where I was still adjusting to their unusual sound, I still knew them as the band that played the secret party on the season one DVD extras of Skins, but I did know enough about them to have willingly gone along to the gig. And what a treat I was in for. The memories which remain of that show are a blur of strobe lights and electric atmosphere – these are the memories I am constantly striving to relive.

So here we are, back in 2013, back at Leeds Met, and once again waiting for Foals to take to the stage. Both Antidotes and Total Life Forever are albums that I have played through uncountable times over the past three years, the band seem to find relevance in any situation. Now with the release of Holy Fire, Foals seemed to have found their most comfortable territory: somewhere between spaced-out interlocking guitar sounds and a new crunching vitality they seemed to have discovered during their time off the radar.

They started the show very much in this territory with Prelude, the instrumental opening track of Holy Fire. After a few minutes of nod-along jamming, the band burst into life with an extended and heavier outro, lead singer Yannis Philippakis leading the crowd as he bounced enthusiastically on the spot.

After that first song kicked in there was no turning back. The suddenly-up-for-it audience cheered as the band’s early single Olympic Airways hit in all its brooding melancholy glory. It was quickly followed with the funky Miami, transporting the grateful Leeds venue to a distant white beach for four minutes.

Yannis then announced that next up was a newer song, which was greeted with the same polite cheer any band with such popular first and second albums would receive. The cheer expanded and exploded when he added that the song would be the new record’s second single: My Number. I predict that the song will be a festival favourite this summer; it has that perfectly care free vibe needed to qualify, with a catchy chorus and groovy main riff. It was probably the Leeds crowd’s most unified moment, as there didn’t seem to be a single member who wasn’t drawn in by Foals’ most radio friendly track.

I began to realize that there is not a quiet moment in a Foals gig. Even a song like Blue Blood,which I associated with its moments of pleasant tranquility  eventually escalated into a large mosh pit: its occupants more dancing than moshing but a dangerous environment all the same. Guitarist Jimmy Smith stared out at the crowd during the majority of Milk and Black Spiders as if admiring his work before giving it his all in the later stages of the song. Smith then started an up tempo clap which suddenly became Balloons. Yannis casually strutted around the stage before his vocals came in, where he then flapped his arms in invitation to join him in singing.

The new songs generally didn’t rouse the crowd as much as the old Antidotes classics did. However there was still a buzz of appreciation for them. In particular, I was impressed with the reaction to new single Late Night, where Yannis’ vocal volume was nearly matched on the line “oh now Mama, do you hear my fear? It’s coming after me!” And then came Providence. Early reactions to Holy Fire suggested that this may be a favourite, my Twitter feed exhibited positive reactions from Foals fans and other band members alike. All signs suggested this song could be a firecracker live.

After a few minutes of build up from the band (in particular drummer Jack Bevan) there was an ominous silence where the drop would normally be, broken only by the odd cheer of a fan who may or may not have been expecting what happened next. Jack Bevan hit Providence’s drum hook and Foals burst back to life as all Hell broke loose below them. I lost the majority of my gig companions in the midst of the crowd chaos of what was definitely the night’s most impactful song.

After the dust settled, the first notes of NME’s track of the year for 2010 echoed around the venue; Spanish Sahara provided the best sing-along moment of the gig. People were appreciating this track in their own ways: I saw a guy next to me miming out the chords on his air-guitar and there was also the sudden suspicious smell of marijuana around.  

It didn’t take long for the band to step the pace back upwith Red Socks Pugie, where I felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu as Yannis vanished off the stage and reappeared on the top of one of the amps by the balcony. I remember the thought of “he can’t jump from there” from my first Foals experience, as he stood with his guitar high above the crowd. He didn’t jump this time either, which was probably for the best.

However, when Yannis swapped guitar for drum sticks and drove into Foals classic Electric Bloom, he seemed hyped by the crowd’s energy and led their most energetic performance of the night. He took this moment to stage dive (from a reasonable height), during the drummer’s amazing drum solo and an impressive laser light show, making it back to the stage after a minute of being held high above the people like a king. He then prowled, microphone in hand, making sure every single member of the crowd was really feeling the song and showcasing his own drumming talents on the central drum.This song still sounded as electrifying as it did back in 2010, its one of those songs that can’t really be appreciated fully until you have witnessed it live.

Here is the performance of Electric Bloom, thanks to Michael Gillespie for the video.

With that, the band left the stage. I was feeling the effects of a thoroughly wild gig and was slightly out of the range of the water that staff on the barrier were handing out, so when the lead singer returned alone and played a haunting solo rendition of Moon, I valued a moment to relax and enjoy a great song.

So I guess I was just about ready, when Foals began the massive lead single – Inhaler. Yannis’ vocals are clearly toned down slightly for the studio version, as in the live environment he almost shouts the line “So can you not go away?!” and screams “SPACE” over the epic sounds of the chorus. It was at this point I realized how impressed I was with the Holy Fire inclusions in the set list, as several of them were received like old favourites – and just a month after its release.

Like a lot of live bands, they saved their biggest crowd pleaser for last. Two Steps Twice really did bring the house down, with most of the venue opening into one large rectangular pit midway through the first verse. When his part in the early stages of the song was over, Yannis came into the crowd, while the rest of the band began the familiar mid-song chant. He slipped past people, still holding his guitar, up the walk way to the back balcony, getting countless pats on the back on his way. When he reached the back balcony, I put myself in his shoes for a second as he stood on the edge, looking down at the thousands of chanting fans in the sold out venue: that must be an indescribable feeling. He then retraced his steps back to the stage and a buzz came through the air as the gig reached its climax. After one final splash of Foals mayhem, the band thanked the crowd and left the stage to a deservedly incredible ovation. I then ran for my train home, missed it, and had absolutely no regrets.

Verdict: The evolution of Foals has been an interesting and exciting one and this translates to the live shows. Every song is played with conviction, with a burning desire for every member of the audience to love the songs as much as they seem to believe in them, and its all done with a superbly laid back approach. Foals are a band any fans of the alternative genre should experience, don’t miss out.               

The Joy Formidable (The Cockpit: Leeds 2013): Review

The Joy Formidable: Review

The Cockpit: Leeds

25^th February 2013

I happened across The Joy Formidable a few years ago and since then they have earned a lot of airtime on my iPod. Originally, I watched them through a live stream of Radio 1’s Big Weekend (I was ensnared by the intriguing name) and I was immediately impressed by both their musical ability and the glowing stage presence provided by Ritzy and co. Their 2011 debut album “The Big Roar” grew on me a lot over time and I now regard it one of my all time favourite albums.

Since then, I have watched them at the past two Leeds Festivals and kept an eye on the build up to their brilliant sophomore album: “Wolf’s Law”. I was not in the slightest disappointed with the new record and so my excitement for the gig at The Cockpit built. This was not only my first Joy Formidable gig but also my first Cockpit experience, so I was a little unsure of what to expect.

The Cockpit itself has a different feel to it to the O2 Academy or Leeds University. It has a great buzz and atmosphere and I almost felt that I was intruding on a local bar whilst queuing for my pint of Woodpecker. I am a fan of intimate venues so I was immediately happy with the layout of the place as it was reasonably simple to wade to nearby the front before they hit the stage.

The gig began with the howl of a wolf, a sound that represents a lot of the qualities of the second album: the connection with nature, the freedom the band have found and the animalistic power that drives each track. Drummer Matt Thomas arrived first, followed by Rhydian Dafydd and Ritzy Bryan. As soon as they had instruments in hand, they built an epic wall of sound before dropping the recognisable main riff from lead single Cholla.

It was instantly noticeable why the band have such a good reputation for their live show. Ritzy’s vocals held a different quality during a live show in comparison to the album tracks. She seems to have a switch between cute, soothing tones and the sort of powerful notes that made the hairs on my arms stand on end: her presence on stage is nothing short of spellbinding.

After the band launched through the near-euphoric Austere and This Ladder Is Ours I had a fresh respect for the other two members of The Joy Formidable. The bassist’s engagement with the crowd and the drummer’s relaxed yet astonishing style made it difficult to know who to watch as each member owned the stage in their own right. It was around this early point of the gig where the crowd got behind the band and really started enjoying themselves. When asked before the gig if I thought there would be any mosh pits my response was “there’ll probably be one in Whirring” but they were present from the go and I thoroughly enjoyed bobbing around in there over the course of the night.

There was not too much I could fault about the set list. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play The Leopard and the Lung but that could be a personal preference as the set didn’t feel like it was lacking. They made it up to me however with the inclusion of While the Flies, perhaps one of my favourite songs in their growing repertoire. The set was devoid of a weak moment, Ritzy continued to impress: her expressions varied from a wide-eyed stare to a joyful smile which was merited by the response new songs such as “Tendons” were receiving.

After the raucous start provided by both band and crowd, I was rather pleased to see Rhydian swap bass for acoustic guitar and begin the beautiful Silent Treatment which provided the gig’s gentlest moment.

Here's the video of the band performing "The Silent Treatment".

The pace then turned again with what I can safely say is the biggest crowd pleaser from Wolf’s Law: the brilliantly theatrical Maw Maw Song. With each verse came a shift in tempo where the crowd would come alive, followed each time by the head-bobbing chorus. After a typically insane Joy Formidable breakdown, the song’s last chorus delivered a busy pit in which one of the more senior members of the fan base ended up on the deck. He was still smiling though!

By The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie I was beyond impressed by the talents of Matt Thomas, who is definitely one of the most underrated drummers in modern rock. With Ritzy and Rhydian’s hectic tremolo picking already reaching top speed, it gave reign to the drummer to take it to another level; the gradually building crashing of the drums brought the song to its grand peak and Matt claimed numerous high fives from the crowd as the band left the stage.

But of course there was an encore to come. It began with the album title track Wolf’s Law, where Ritzy truly showed the two contrasting sides of her voice, providing perhaps her most powerful vocals of the night as the piano driven ballad exploded into life and she belted out “I’ll take the gambling way”.

The final song of the night was Whirring and they clearly save it for last with good reason. The four minute plus outro provided time for Rhydian to go for a spot of crowd surfing and Ritzy (with some help from the audience) to tear the strings from her guitar before the eventual ring of feedback which signalled the end of an amazing show.

Verdict: This may be my first review, but I have been to a lot of gigs previously and I have never known a band looking like they are enjoying themselves onstage like The Joy Formidable do, and its seriously infectious. If you can make it to one of their gigs then get yourself to what will undoubtedly be a thoroughly engaging rock show.