I’ve really been slacking in the live show department recently. I miss it so much. I love the atmosphere, I live the lights dimming and I love the roar of an audience primed to see their favourite act… even if said favourite act is someone I’ve never heard of nor care particularly for.
As it stands tonight, I’ve travelled down the road (literally) to the beautiful Camden KoKo in London to witness a set, unbeknown to me which will probably result in a major change in my music taste in the future. Dear oh dear, I feel like I’ve been struck by lightening.
FavouriteSons are a band that I’ve never really heard of. I say that really, when in fact it’s more to the point that really they are a band I’ve never really paid attention to. Why? Well… I assumed I didn’t like them. However, we all know what they say about assumptions, and as I was desperate to catch a live show, off to see them I did, and I’m 100% glad I did.
Opening with ’Walking Here’ the crowd are met by a band who are reminiscent of an American Elbow. With a quiet confidence the booming voice of the lead singer fills the auditorium and everyone is taken aback as the lead singer emits a beautifully soaring vocal range complementing perfectly the prog-rock love song the rest of the band members are churning out.
’When You’re Away From Me’ lightens the mood slightly as the lyricism can’t help but raise a smile from everyone in the audience. Melodic and smooth the track is easily comparable to work of The Divine Comedy, easy listening without a doubt and catchy as you could imagine. ’Pistols and Girls’ follows and is a bass driven track which borders on anthemic. Even those of us who are unfamiliar with the band in any real depth were singing along with the chorus, “We have pistols and girls…” essentially because, and let’s not lie here, they are simple and down right effective.
’Down Beside Beauty’ gets that right foot tapping overtime and is as pleasing live as it is on CD. It develops a real country and western feel and then mixes it all up with a good splash of indie-rock and a good helping of thundering vocals. ’Hang On Girl’ is one of the more faster paced tracks the band have and in away it’s a shame that they interrupted an otherwise mellow set with it, but being a real Garagey, Strokes-esque track it went down a storm with the audience who were looking for an excuse to jump up and down wildly to a band that thoroughly deserved such behaviour.
Depressingly, the last track of their set came about all too quickly in the form of ’The Things That We Do To Each Other’ and closed the set with the same sweet harmonies that it opened.
Sounding distinctively British despite being American, FavouriteSons are sure to be a hit with fans of bands such as Radiohead, The Coral, The Divine Comedy and Elbow. All of these bands fall into the “indie” bracket in the UK, and it was a genre I have been all to quick to dismiss for a long time now; this however, has undoubtedly changed my views upon it, and I can’t express how shocked I am that I like it. It’s not that it’s new, it’s not that it’s innovative and it’s certainly not that it’s happy-go-lucky. It’s deep, it’s meaningful, and it’s thoroughbred, uninterfered rock and roll.
It’s strange really, I always thought the band that would swing it for me would be British. It must be a sign of the times.