Well,
the appetite was duly whetted last month after White Lies’ in-store acoustic show
at Rough Trade Bristol (gig no 1,210), and now it’s time for the real deal!
Since that show, the boys’ 6th (!) album, the presciently titled “As
I Try Not To Fall Apart”, has been in pretty constant rotation in the car
(particularly if Logan and I are the only passengers!), and it’s a proper
banger. Musically it veers more definitely into smooth yet haunting synthy Talk
Talk territory, but is again replete with swathes of brain-hugging hooks and
one particularly huge, anthemic number, “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars”, which
stands pat with pretty much anything else they’ve done. Overall, this may ultimately
be the strongest White Lies album since their debut, so expectation was high
for a performance to match tonight, to really elevate them to the Big Leagues…
An
early drive down the M4 into the low setting sun got Logan and I there 10
minutes before doors, joining the O2 priority queue (yay!) and snagging a
barrier spot, house right, on entry. An hour to wait for proceedings, but we
were joined by an affable bunch of fellow punters on the barriers, some fun
Smiths-centric rock chat passing the time convivially before openers VLure. A hotly-tipped
new Glaswegian lot, this, they were introduced onstage by a smartly dressed festival
barker intoning a bleak poem; “on this hill we die, welcome to the world of
VLure!” Quite the entrance and something to live up to, then, and from note one
they were utterly stunning; opener “Desire” strode in on the coattails of a
decidedly creepy Peter Hook-esque bassline, all dark and deliciously doomy, and
vocalist Hamish Hutcheson upped the ante with not only his commanding, heavily
accented vocals, but an authentic and hard-hitting intensity and conviction. By
the second number, the brutal goth stomp of “Show Me How To Live”, he was in
the photographer pit, striding the plinths and eyeballing the front rows like a
T Rex sizing up his next meal. He means it, maaan! Sonically a totally apposite
support for White Lies, dovetailing into that synthy, post-punk/goth sonic
template, but with an underlying looser, dancey edge, VLure more than lived up
to the hype; “I Won’t Run” featured a New Order-esque cascading synth pattern
and strong-armed beats, and subsequent numbers featured robotic krautrock,
evoking bleak dystopian cityscapes. Final number “Euphoria”’s elegiac opening then
plunged into an epic pulsing backbeat thrill-ride not dissimilar to tonight’s
headliners’ brilliant “Death”, rounding off a set which Hutcheson finished
shirtless and kneeling, arms outstretched, to soak in the deserved applause for
a highly impressive opening set. They’d be amazing at the Thekla… or The
Joiners…!
It
got appreciably busier down the front, but we still got quick loo breaks in
before the lights dimmed dead on 9, White Lies taking the stage to the muted
synth strains of the new album’s opening section. Kicking in with a slightly
reworked but still widescreen and singalong “Farewell To The Fairground”, they
were pretty much “on it” from the outset, the sound beefy and punchy, augmented
by their mystery 4th synth player member, the only slight criticism
being that Harry McVeigh’s vocals were occasionally down in the mix. No matter,
we were singing along to every number anyway! A treat visually as well, the
stage stark and uncluttered by monitors, with strobes and pulsing,
multi-coloured strip-lights illuminating the backdrop and the base of Jack
Lawrence-Brown’s high drum riser. The layered hooks of “There Goes Our Love
Again” was an early treat, “Am I Really Going To Die” recalled the expansive Euro-synth
dance of “Sons And Fascination”-era Simple Minds and featured some Forbes-esque
bass plucking from Charles Cave; and the almost thrashy, punky “Hurt My Heart”
opened with blood red strip lights morphing into almost savagely flashing
strobe lighting! A mellower, twinkling “Is My Love Enough” diffused this
frantic mood, “Big TV”’s Visage-like sheet metal synth was stunning and epic,
and the double of an almost jolly “Tokyo” and the brilliantly chugging,
coruscating “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars” closed out a remarkably swift but
excellently played set.
Encore
“Death” was however the highlight of the night; a stridently pounding intro,
accompanied by an almost violent flashing white light strobe display, led to a
slow, funereal verse, ultimately building to a euphoric release for the hook,
as good as I’ve ever heard this wonderful track played “live”. Following an
understated “As I Try Not To Fall Apart”, the otherwise taciturn McVeigh piled
fulsome praise on the enthusiastic audience for coming (“after 2 years I can’t
tell you how good it feel to tour again!”) before the huge roof-raising
singalong to “Bigger Than Us” closed out another excellent White Lies set. No
confetti cannon tonight, as per other recent gigs, but no matter. A set-list
from a friendly roadie then a few words with the friendly folks from VLure,
hanging out in the loading bay, and quickly home via the kebab van. Great boy’s
night out. No doubt; that certainly was The Real Deal from both VLure and White
Lies!
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