Concorde 2, 9th October 2009
With the intimate Concorde 2 strained by the raging adolescent crowd, tonight was a sold-out affair and the cult favourites Funeral For A Friend had a lot to answer to. Promoting their retrospective ‘Best Of’ album, ‘Your History Is Mine’, the Welsh quintet had left their set list to be completely chosen on the Internet by the fans. A clever move and well described by lead, Matthew Davies, mid-set, “That’s right, I’m just lazy”.
Taking that into account, an intoxicating set of innovative classics and rarities was provided. Kicking off with ‘Streetcar’ and ‘This Years Most Open Heartbreak’ the domination began, with fans rapturously applauding and following the rockers’ instruction – at one point I felt myself pounding my fist in the air too. The rockers churned out the heavy riffs of particular favourites ‘Bend Your Arms To Look Like Wings’, ‘She Drove Me To Daytime Television’, ‘Red Is The New Black’ which pulled the heartstrings of the rabid fan base.
As if to soothe the ever-expanding mosh pit, a monumental rendition of ‘History’ soon took the tone down. A bit more boy-band then the rest of his bearded bandmates, newest member Gav Burrough’s supplied some impressive softer vocals, to contrast the renowned roar provided by drummer Richards and lead Davies. The overly sweaty clustered crowd remained exuberated during ‘Rookie Of The Year’, ‘Escape Artists Never Die’. The band integrated some new tracks ‘Wrench’ and ‘Captains Of Industry’ which had a solid feel, were both filled with enough catchy hooks for all to enjoy and demonstrated the passion still remained for the band.
After the conventional encore, the five men re-entered, the crowd maintaining stamina and were more appreciative than ever. Reuniting older fans with some new friends they combined the slightly commercial single ‘Into Oblivion (Reunion)’ with a tune off the older album ‘Seven Ways To Scream Your Name’. The final track was the unforgettable ‘Juneau’ and was nothing but a strong performance. Every fan echoed the lyrics back to this up-tempo, crowd-pleaser easily defining the set.
After four albums, two Kerrang! Awards and a bit of member shuffling, Funeral For A Friend are back and living up to their title as the lords of the British emo genre.
Words by Amber Mellowship
Photography by Dave Imms
myspace.com/funeralforafriend
What did you think of the gig?
Dan Gravenor: “The atmosphere and the way Funeral For A Friend acted with the crowd was amazing. For a band as big as them it’s great that they have stayed with the fans since day one, they aren’t arrogant like other bands”
Rosa Fox: “Funeral For A Friend aren’t really one of my favourite bands, I only knew a few songs but I thought the crowd were really up for it”
(Left to right), Chris Jury, Emily Guffogg and Oliver Guffogg.
Chris: “So fun, the atmosphere was good. It was very hot and sweaty!”
Emily: “It was awesome, my best gig so far!”
James Lovell: “They were awesome”Set featured image
Libby Evans: “Excellent, a little bit crazy!”
