1,467 FRANCIS OF DELIRIUM, May Payne, Bristol Exchange, Monday 28th September 2026

 

Well, my intended week of 4 gigs in 7 nights was reduced by one, as Sports Team fan Logan worked too late last Thursday to allow us to get down The Fleece in time to see them! No time to lick my financial wounds, though, as I was back on it tonight with this band of increasing faves. Luxembourg indie troupe Francis Of Delirium, ostensibly (and also increasingly) the singular vision of captivating talent Jana Bahrich, released their sophomore full-length effort earlier this year in “Run Run Pure Beauty”, and it’s an absolute corker. Once again taking it down a notch in comparison with both previous releases and their more overt shows, this properly showcases a batch of beautifully plangent melodic tuneage, switching from introverted melancholy to buoyant optimism with ease; no surprise it’s currently topping the list of my 2026 new releases. To cap things off, FoD’s touring iteration announced another UK tour, so I snapped up tix pronto. 

So, another sun-visor run down the M4 into the setting sun saw me parking up opposite the venue just after 7.15, running into Bristol gig friend Louise down the front, house left, for some fun gig chat before opener May Payne prompt at 8. A solo acoustic performer, occasionally utilising some eerie synth and effects pedal beats (though happily not too much of that old malarkey) but mainly a big old acoustic, her oeuvre majorly consisted of hushed and deeply personal introspective relationship breakup numbers, laced with extensive and rather entertaining between-song exposition. “I Was Born To Let You Down” (“the only happy song in the set!” according to May) and the more “evil” closing number (apparently written during her period!), which built to a crescendo, were my two highlights, but overall this was a listenable and endearing set from an engaging performer, who was surprised and buoyed by the quiet attentiveness of tonight’s audience!

We were then joined by Matt and his lovely daughter Alice, out on a first time daddy-daughter rock gig! So we chatted until the lights dimmed and Francis Of Delirium took the stage, quickly opening with the plaintive “Aliens”, building to a quiet/ loud undulating riff-fest, with Jana’s clear, high choirgirl voice already a feature, dancing across the surface. “Happy Monday you beautiful fuckers!” she exclaimed before the descending power riffery and almost operatic octave straddling choral vocal of an excellent “Out Tonight”, subsequently praising Bristol at its conclusion as “one of our favourite cities, [and the] best food!” 

That set the tone for tonight, with the “live” version of Francis Of Delirium again imbuing their material (particularly the new album numbers) with a potent, strident and vigorous dynamism, in contrast to the more layered and nuanced approach on the recorded versions, giving the songs an extra dimension in the process. And Jana herself seems to have really grown as a “live” performer, looking more relaxed and voluble, bantering jovially with her back-up boys and with the crowd, including myself on a couple of occasions, when their Briston Maroney support slot here in 2022 (gig 1,237) was mentioned! The stately oldie “Real Love” was a soaring early highlight, followed in short order by the groovy NYC new wave-isms of “Little Black Dress” and a more hushed, elegiac yet crescendo-building “Require For A Dying Day”, itself preceded by a stark vignette of Tears For Fears’ classic “Mad World”! We then got some rock theatrics as Jana and bassist Jeff divided the noisy and thoroughly engaged crowd down the middle, the halves competing for loudest reaction to the rabble-rousing punk hurtle of oldie “The Funhouse”; Jana properly energised our side with some expansive gestures of encouragement, but ultimately lost out to the chants of “Jeff Jeff Jeff”!

“We had Gigi’s pizza for tea… but now I think [its’] having me…” moaned Jana before the toughened up “Beautiful Life”, my favourite new one; “Something Changed” and “Higher” were a brilliant late hooky and widescreen double; then the brooding yet decadent dance of “Damned” rounded off the set… well, the planned one, at least… Jana then invited requests from the rowdy audience for an unplanned encore, ultimately settling on the quiet/ loud grungy riffery of “Ballet Dancers” and strident fist-pumping terrace chant of “Quit Fucking Around”, which ultimately closed out a rather excellent set. Drummer Denis (amazingly) heard my shout over the raucous cheers and handed me his list; we then joined quite the biggest merch queue I’ve seen at this venerated venue, Alice and I buying the same t-shirt (!) and myself grabbing list signatures and quick chats with both Jana and support May. Gathered my breath before a roadworks-diverted run home through inky country backroads, finally joining the M4 at J18 and hitting the ‘don at ¼ to midnight. Never mind, this was a fantastic show from a band really finding their feet “live”, energising and enthusing the Exchange crowd like few other  bands. Francis Of Delirium; direct, dynamic and delirious!