NEWS
EVENTS
FIDLAR: Live Review
Indie | Tuesday 21st August 2012 | Osh
20th August @ The Lexington
It’s quarter to 11 on a Monday night on a quiet road in Islington and local residents begin the inevitable return to the never ending routine of employment laze in front of the television, put their children to bed and all of the general things you’re forced to do with a sense of hatred when the inebriated weekend is over and reality kicks in. However, it appears someone forgot to tell FIDLAR about this. The front man, dressed in a brightly coloured vest reminiscent of an acid trip and denim shorts, lays sprawled on his back star-fished amongst a number of parked bicycles. As I sip at my crazily labelled beer, named after some Scottish hop farmer who sounds slightly like a cross between a superhero’s alter ego and a porn star, I can’t help but smile to myself as I ponder if the scene is a better advertisement for Boris’s bikes or rock and roll?
Some forty minutes earlier FIDLAR took to the stage to an absolutely crammed room full of eagerly anticipating listeners clad in skinny jeans, denim jackets and sporting baseball caps; in fact I think a few members of the crowd may have been jealous of the room offered to a sardine in a can. The atmosphere is electric as the band play through their set at breakneck speed, a wonderful combination of surf rock and thrashy punk that is relentless. The crowd are spinning, jumping and imitating the incredible motion of a tidal wave upon which the band surf on, as people just generally go mental passing fellow crowd members over their heads whilst beer flies everywhere. It isn’t often that such a wonderful reaction is seen from a crowd in small venues and in fact if there hadn’t of been a stage present you’d have to think the riot police would have been called a long time ago.
The swashbuckling front man, if who was anymore charm filled you could be forgiven for mistaking for one Captain Jack Sparrow, commands the stage an embodiment of rock and roll. He demands the crowd ‘hands up if you like LSD man, who here likes LSD?’ giving just a brief rest bite before surging into the number which sees all three standing members go mental, the bass player jumps around the stage, bass first as if instrument controls man proudly thrusting the Wu Tang sticker stuck to the front into the crowd. ‘Feel free to join us on stage’ offers the front man before playing a song dedicated to their own drummer ‘Max Can’t Surf’ a number filled with Beach Boys-esque melodies and harmonies, a crashing drum pattern and guitar chords laden with reverb which transports you to the clear blue waters and sandy beaches of Hawaii or California. ‘God I need a holiday and to learn to surf’ suddenly enters my head.
My momentary lapse in concentration is soon over as FIDLAR go into ‘No Waves’ a thundering bass line, complete with hand claps and hooks buried throughout means this isn’t just a number that sticks in your head, it rams its way in through whatever orifice it can find and anchors itself there clinging on for dear life like a barnacle to a rock; it’s going nowhere. The band end their set with a triumphant cover of Blink 182, a fellow American band whose success in the UK music scene FIDLAR will look to emulate.
Catch this band next at the Reading and Leeds festival on the Festival Republic Stage and bring your surf board. There’s no need for water, the crowd will suffice.
By Joe Longhurst
