Touring the UK after the release of their second album, Helplessness Blues three months ago,
Fleet Foxes played Brighton last night (16 August).
"Hi... it's, errr, great to be here...," mumbles Robin Pecknold, carefully coercing his guitar into tune as silence fills the Brighton Dome. The Fleet Foxes leader cuts an awkward, even uncomfortable figure onstage, somewhat at odds with his growing reputation which has seen him hailed at just 25 as someone who has already penned two potentially classic albums and who is now increasingly mentioned in the same breath as the likes Neil Young or Brian Wilson.
However the Seattle band's reputation has been forged by their music, and so despite the tricky introductions, opener The Cascades, a masterful show of acoustic fingerpicking finesse, quickly demonstrates why the hunched figure leading the band has been the subject of so many kind words.
A sombre reimagining of Tiger Mountain Peasant Song drapes plaintive piano and gentle drums over the track's acoustic skeleton, sounding like Karma Police with Celtic flourishes, while Grown Ocean, which sees mandolins, organs and double bass collide under the band's trademark rich vocal harmonies, proves surprisingly incendiary.
"Thanks so much to all you sweet people," declares the singer midway through, apparently now warmed up for a bit of banter. " And all the evil people, too - without them, no one would appreciate the sweet ones, y'know!"
The likes of The Shrine / The Argument - an sprawling eight minute effort that balances its bright glistening melodies against a coda filled with dissonant squawks of clarinet - and Montezuma show his increasing confidence isn't misplaced, though what proves most striking isn't actually the music, but the respectful silence it is performed in, as the Brighton crowd are too awed to even make their way to the bar outside in case they make too much noise, lest they spoil the hushed, intimate mood.
That is until the So-Cal baroque pop of Helplessness Blues. As the last notes of Fleet Foxes' final song rings out around the Dome, the silence is replaced by loud, sustained and very deserved applause.
9:30 AM | 17/08/2011
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"the Brighton crowd are too awed to even whisper drinks requests at the bar, lest they spoil the hushed, intimate mood."
Have you ever been to the Dome? The bar's in a completely different part of the building!
Posted by Jonny at 11:29 PM | 17/08/2011 | Report Abuse
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