Toronto – So I forgot Ricky bought tickets for this awhile back. Not only did I forget but as per usual I failed to do any research about either band prior to the concert. I have never knowingly heard of Friendly Fires or White Lies but this proved to be one of the better shows so far this year (OK so I’m only comparing them to the tepid Lykke Li show back in February but I don’t get out much).
Friendly Fires took me by surprise because I didn’t know this was a double-bill. I was so taken by them and their bearded drummer that I sort of stopped paying attention to White Lies halfway through their set and hit their merch table right after…If there’s one thing concert-goers should have gotten from their set it’s that these guys are not just another funky dancey-influenced Brit band.
There are a few things the Friendly Fires set made apparent…1) Electronic music has its place with “real” instruments, 2) These guys know how to progressively layer their music, 3) Beards are hot. I can’t stress how well they pulled off the layering element — you can hear conga-ish drums in there, guitars, the most soulful British white guy voice since Rick Astley or OK maybe Jamiroquai, squidgy bits of electro samples, and all of your other standard good pop band sounds.
Let’s take for example In the Hospital. How can you not want to shake your ass to this even if you have creaky hips that might snap at a given moment? I should know, I dance like an out-of-rhythm, out-of-touch white nerd yet I could not help progressing the toe tapping to awkwardly flailing limbs. Lovesick was again an ass-shaking performance and the most impressive showcase of the lead singer’s voice. I bet you don’t believe me when I tell you he’s the next incarnate of the classic Michael Jackson voice but I swear it is TRUE. Ricky’s right about the good showmanship and by good showmanship I mean they had a pulse and got me to start clapping my salami saddle bag arms – I don’t clap for no one but could not help it during Strobe which sounded a lot flatter on the studio recording that I just listened to.
I too loved Paris for its progression. At the beginning it sounds like your standard electro-sampled deal but then you hit the sweet song g-spot in the chorus. When the vocalist hits those castrato type octaves your ear cilia hairs start making out in celebration. It happens during White Diamonds too, albeit briefly during the orgiastic “kiss slow” bit.
I really hope these guys don’t get labelled as the “Wii Fit” band because of On Board because even though that was the only song I knew walking in cold, it paled in comparison to the rest of what we heard from their set.
Oh yeah, there was some crowd-walking and speaker climbing too, which is always exciting.
I don’t have too much to say about White Lies. The lead signer was under the weather, they came on in matching short-sleeved black collar shirts and had a lot of Chameleon-circa-Strange Times-like moments.
One last general thing I’d like to point out is the reflection a concert’s crowd has on the quality of music. This show attracted a diverse (read: weird) cross-section of attendees. We were standing behind a 50-something year old dad, his friend and his 20-something year old daughter but there were people who looked like us too, only hipper. Mediocrity attracts sameness, superiority attracts weirdos gathering in one room. Can you judge the quality of music performance based on the diversity of the crowd they attract? I say hells yes, and not just because they let us in too.
