Phew, last night of four gigs this week and I might have saved the best till last. Given that the age profile of this gig would be significantly lower than my usual fare I made the call to get in the venue early. So at five to eight we get down to the stalls to find it is already packed going back to the bar area already. Great for the support act to see so many people there for their set.
With a scheduled start time of 9.15, that came and went , I am guessing we must have heard the whole of Abba Gold after the support act finished. Now I love Abba as much as the next man but it had certainly outstayed its welcome. Finally twenty minutes late the lights go out apart from a solitary street lamp on stage and the then first delicate strands of ‘91’ appear out of the PA.
And that is where the delicateness ends and an hour and forty five minutes of power pop rockiness begins. It’s a relentless powerhouse performance from Antonoff and band as they rattle through equal measures of songs from across each of their three albums.
Wearing their influences on their sleeve you cannot help make the obvious comparisons with the E Street band with the driving organ and saxophone breaks. Like Springsteen, Antonoff has captured the zeitgeist of the moment with his songwriting and has made an unbreakable connection with his fans who sing back nearly every word of every song. I felt like a fraud only probably knowing 30% of the lyrics but what I lacked in memory precision I made up for in volume.
As I mentioned to the rest of my party Antonoff himself reminds me a lot of Craig Finn from the Hold Steady with his manicness on stage and his expressive arm gestures.
The band are tight and the dual drum setup always goes down well with me but all of them shift effortlessly between instruments throughout. A word too on the set design and lighting which were excellent and made some great use of silhouetting the band throughout.
Difficult to pick any specific highlight with a show that has so much drive and energy from the very start to the final sax notes of the final song played off stage as they left it. I will say that the final four song salvo of ‘You’re still a Mystery’, ‘I wanna get Better’, ‘Don’t take the Money’ and ‘Stop Making this hurt’ ,complete with inflatable tomatoes, is probably going to be one of the best closing run of songs to a show I will see this year. Props too for a decent version of 'The Whole of the Moon' as well.
With the usual eleven o’clock curfew blown away the party finally finishes not long before 11.30 and this is one show that won’t be forgotten in a hurry. This old man is feeling it the day after but can still rock with these youngsters when needed.
Keep on power poppin’ rockin’ y’all.
PS. Great quality video below from Andy Luckers who captures the joy of the gig.