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Andy, Glenn + Ritch were first on and certainly didn't lack talent at their instruments (the drummer gets a special mention here) as they produced a kind of math-rock display with the odd bout of vocals thrown in too. However talented they were, they failed to produce something as melodic as the following band were capable of and after a while it kind of got a bit monotonous.
This was the second time I've seen Foals - the first being when they supported Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies and they didn't really seem ready to be doing gigs as I think they only really did 2 or 3 songs and lots of 'jamming' in between... Truth be told it disappointed me as I felt they relied on their YMSS/Edmund Fitzgerald backgrounds and incredibly fast staccato polyrhythmic guitar parts to keep them afloat... Fortunately this was not the case tonight as right from the off they impressed with a full percussion band of friends and accomplices (or is the plural 'accomplicees'?!) joining them on stage, shaking those plastic egg things, beating blocks with sticks and doing rolls on the extra hi-hat.
The band then went through an impressive set of songs, occasionally leaving me breathless - the songs were top quality. I was both jealous and impressed by them. Andrew (from YMSS fame) told the audience, I think (it was kind of mumbled), that he was perhaps leaving the band in search of the new sound. I wondered how the band would be able to continue without him as his vocals seemed to take quite an important place in the band's music.
Now, when you go to watch a band as highly anticipated as Battles play, you have an inkling that it's going to be a good show. To say I wasn't disappointed would be an understatement; from the intro of their first song they had me gripped in an almost trance-like state, and I heard the word 'epic' used several times.
The music was somewhat bleak yet strangely uplifting at the same time. Combining high-pitched electronics with almost sinister guitar parts and thudding drums should jar, but they come together effortlessly to create a complicated harmony. The set itself was pretty seamless, like one continuing stream of consciousness interrupted only by the occasional cheers of the crowd, and I found myself losing track of when one song ended and the next began. But this was no bad thing; it simply highlighted how polished Battles are as a group. I’m definitely glad that as my new t-shirt puts it, ‘I have Battles in my life’.
Words: Alice Bevan & Craig Sharp
Photo: Jack Bevan |
| Coding: Darren Burrows