Francesca Baker
In a venue as grand as Shoreditch Town Hall, you don’t expect to be getting your rocks right royally off (in the musical sense) on a Thursday night, but when the line up is as good as this, I guess who would think otherwise.
I Am Arrows kicked off proceedings, and whilst ex Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows is probably used to some more exuberant crowds, the tight delivery and striking guitar work certainly whet the appetite of the polite audience. Combining the rotundity of We Are Scientists (his current band) with the ticking beats of Razorlight, the debut album should be a good’un.
Sprightly strings and bouncing vocals are what we’ve come to expect from Everything Everything, and tonight they were as effervescent as ever, running through the crowd pleasing ‘My Kz Ur Bf’ and ‘Suffragette, Suffragette’ amongst others. Shrill as a tin whistle, lead singer Jonathan Higgs was on sparkling form.
The band to really set things ablaze was White Lies. It’s sometimes dangerous showcasing new material, especially at a gig where the majority of the crowd are competition winners through Spotify and Three’s Now Playing series, but new songs ‘Streetlights’, ‘Is Love’ and ‘Holy Ghost’ were intense and engaging. Although there were mutterings that the new tracks did not really represent any boundary pushing on White Lies’ part, when hearing the dark ‘To Lose My Life’ and pulsating ‘Strangers’ you have to ask why anyone would fix something so clearly not broken. A thrilling ‘Farewell To The Fairground’ ended the night, but with new album ‘Ritual’ on the horizon, it looks like the fun is not over just yet.
And So She Thinks 