Live Review by: Alison Duggins
Definitely one to watch is the cheeky lass from Warwickshire, Lucy Rose, performing tonight with just an acoustic guitar and pinkish orange sunset spotlight. Her lyrics seem quite her own, bending from the tenderness of her first song, aptly, “First” to the autobiographical “Red Face” which she plucked out with masterful skill. Her charm and talent are undeniable in the gentle stretching of tempo followed by pounding and mildly accusatory outro, unassisted by any percussion. The artist seemed a bit taken a back by all the clamor and applause and even admitted between songs, “I can’t believe you even know who I am,” which of course only makes us love her more. The ridiculous line up the block prior to the show should have been the first clue. However she innocently and sweetly proceeded with more unaided acoustic renditions of “Night Bus and “Scar, “ holding the audience in her firm yet delicate grasp. Miss Rose wrapped up with “Middle of the Road,” sung with that great lilting UK sound along the lines of Kate Nash, yet with the soul of David Grey. Her performance was flawless and tight with conviction and easy with sly confidence, fantastic!
The Darcy’s took the stage next to a slow start building to a smashy discordant jumpy melodic romp with pauses, feverish keyboard and guitar work between muddy puddles. The percussion and feel was sexy, scruffy and really engaged, as expected from the Toronto quartet along with plenty of ooowoo’s to get the crowd pumped for the headliner.
Bombay Bicycle Club appeared grinningly satisfied with the opening acts and dove right into the new material, starting off With “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep,” and the much adored “Your Eyes.” The set evolved from dreamy pop, to dancy 80′s throwback to almost a garage punk feel with jumping and stomping and good fun followed by a bit more broadly arranged folky stuff. The tracks from Flaws were welcomed, if not a bit bumbled, there seemed to be some technical difficult that sort of took the steam out of Evening/Morning. Most long-time fans probably filled this bit in themselves unwittingly and the set ended happily with debut album favorites “Always Been Like This” and “The Giantess.” As a final treat we saw Lucy Rose rushing back in the doors to assist on the encore tracks “Shuffle” and “What If.”
As with the opening set, there was a lot of enthusiasm from the crowd that had lined up plenty early to catch this act, as if knowingly stealing a last glimpse of this band before they appear in the larger venues.
photos by: Rhivanz
