The first two songs performed were
unfortunately marred by the incompetent sound engineers for which I don’t think
the band can be held totally responsible. As powerful as Robin Pecknold’s voice
is, the cacophony from the instruments (as musically superb as it was) drowned
it out almost entirely. Thankfully by the third song this had been smoothed out
so the remainder of the show was pretty much perfect holding many in the
audience captivated for the duration.
If Band of Horses made me feel like I
was floating effortlessly on a cloud listening to angels play their songs to me
on harpsichords, Fleet Foxes take it a step further (or perhaps even several
steps). I was indeed sitting at the feet of the Gods (and I’m an atheist) as
each song was revealed inside my mind as a story of spectacular depth. It was
kind of like a really good acid trip* involving angel choirs singing to the
sounds of higher order orchestras combined with unicorns on lead guitar,
squirrels on bass and badgers playing banjos. There were even Oompa Loompas (but
with wings) dressed in fox costumes as they sang in perfect harmonies with the
angel choirs.
From the melodious splendour of White
Winter Hymnal and He Doesn’t Know Why to the beckoning of Blue Ridge Mountains and
Ragged Wood each had the ability to yank off your scalp (although not
literally) exposing your brain directly to the wondrous offerings. Then Your Protector
starts off nice and slow with its gradual introduction to the other instruments
before erupting into a tour de force of amazing lyrical and musical performance
before the first minute is out. As the words, ‘You run with the devil,’ were sung out the big red beast appeared before my eyes but fear not for it was only Dave
Grohl from Tenacious D’s The Pick of Destiny and he vanished in a puff of green
smoke as the Foxes hummed a harmony that acted as a vanquishing spell.
The new album opener Montezuma was
outstanding while the more delicately beautiful sounding Blue Spotted Tail was pure perfection. Pecknold held the audience by himself while the band retired for a
break before the encore. Belting out Oliver James with only minimal guitar and someone in the crowd shouting, ‘Come on!’ as he really went for it.
From Lorelai to The Plains/Bitter
Dancer to The Shrine/An Argument and The Cascades, there was little doubt we
were in the presence of musical giants. Finishing with the title track
Helplessness Blues made me want an orchard so I could work until I’m so sore
all I can do is sit in my rocking chair on my porch listening to Fleet Foxes. Perhaps this is their overall plan? If it is count me in.
On top of this I was left questioning
why on earth I ever had my hair cut short and how long it would take to grow it
again. Added to this my need for one of those beards I directed my cloud in the
direction of Seattle to see if I could speed up the process however I’m afraid
I stalled and the ending of the evening’s entertainment bought me crashing back
down to reality as I had to drive all the way back to Northampton.
Once again, please accept my apologies
for such dodgy filming skills but when enjoying such shows filming is
difficult. I'll be taking my own better pictures in future as well as better
videos for future reviews.
*please note I do not encourage or
endorse the use of drugs. It was the Gods, not me who made it appear like an
acid trip. If you don't wish to blame the Gods then I hear those Oompa Loompas are quite colourful characters (pun intended). They probably slipped it into the beer.
Music of the moment:
1) James Vincent McMorrow -
Click on his name to check out his EP We Don't Eat, it's very good. And yes it
does appear he often sports one of the beards too. You see, it really is in the
beards for some of these artists. The album Early in the Morning isn't half bad
either, I highly recommend it. I'm gutted I missed the opportunity to see him
live on his recent tour.
2) I.R.I.S. which stands for In Retrospect I See. Do you
see what they did there? They have a really nice sound which sort of reminds me
a bit of Funeral For A Friend. A promising EP Out of Fiction is available now.
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