Thursday, 27 October 2011

Bombay Bicycle Club, Brixton Academy 19.10.11

After the recent release of their third album A Different Kind Of Fix with its diverse change of sound, this was bound to be a big night for Bombay Bicycle Club. There was no doubt about the boys not filling up the 5000 capacity venue with their loyal followers who have stuck by them through three very different albums. The only question was how this difference in genres would go down with such a large audience of fans old and new? 

They opened the set with ‘Shuffle’, the first single from the new album, an immediate crowd pleaser which got the audience ready for what the new songs had to bring to the night. The first half of the set revolved around the new album with its more electronic and calming feel to it. However new songs such as ‘Your Eyes’ with its 30 second ‘rock out’ at the end added towards the enthusiastic atmosphere of tonight’s gig. The band then paid a very nostalgic but well received visit to the 2009 first album ‘ I Had The Blue But I Shook Them Loose’ which added to the more energetic attitude from the crowd with old indie favourites such a ‘Evening/Morning’, ‘Dust On The Ground’ and ‘It’s Always Like This’ accompanied by trumpets.  Just as the audience thought they had a treat with these songs being played early in the set, the biggest surprise of the night then came from the 2007 EP track ‘Open House’. As soon as the song started people pushed themselves to the front and it was easy to see that the night had taken a different direction from when the set first started.

Unsurprisingly the boys avoided songs from their second album with its more folk experimentation and only played the singles ‘Ivy & Gold’ and ‘Rinse Me Down’. This came from the help of Lucy Rose, with her light tones which gave a different quality to the songs. Never mind her awkwardly hanging around on stage just distractedly swaying for the rest of the show. The rest of the set showed the band jump between songs from the first and third album being shown equal appreciation from the audience. 

The set was ended with a beautiful encore of ‘Still’ played acoustically on an upright piano, alone at the back of the stage by Jack Steadman. It was the quietest but most magical moments in tonight’s show as it showed the raw talent of the shy and awkward frontman.  The rest of the group then came back on stage for a contrasting finale song ‘What if’. Loud and releasing chaotic energy within the audience, this was a brilliant ending to tonight’s interesting and varied mix of song choices. 

Its seems that Bombay Bicycle Club have come a long way since their indie beginnings but tonight’s performance was flawless and the bands hard work has definitely paid off. I’m personally looking forward to seeing what genre the boys choose to experiment with next.

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