Passion Pit at the O2 Academy 01/11/2009

My second time in the O2 Academy in a matter of days, and this time I at least felt a little more aware of my surroundings. It couldn't be any more different a crowd either - quite a diverse mix was filing into Academy 2, probably due to the amount of hype and/or airplay that Passion Pit have received over the last few months. But, first things first, we have an odd gentleman on the stage who is surrounded by keyboards and boxes with leads coming out of them. That man is Max Tundra (real name Ben Jacobs, fact fans), and whilst knowing the name I had never heard his music. By honest first impression was "what on earth is this?", and it's a good question if ever there was one. This balding 30-something makes music which sounds like a cross between a Nintendo 64 and Nathan Barley's ringtone, or (just so I can use another silly similie) the soundtrack to Vince Noir's wet dreams. It's not bad stuff, his 90s rave track being my highlight, but it's too early on a dreary Sunday evening, and Max sems to be too much for most and more faces painted a picture of confusion than anything else. He finished his set with his rendition of the Goodbye Song. Irony, much?

Next up were one of my highlights of Hop Farm festival, The Joy Formidable. Despite only having a mini-album to their name, the show the Welsh power-trio put on comes across like a greatest hits set. 'The Greatest Light...', 'Whirring' et al. all sound fresh and absolutley vital in the live environment, singer/guitarist Ritzy is every inch the rockstar, despite being tiny... and very cute. They remind me very much of the late great JJ72, with the smallest smattering of Smashing Pumpkins heaviness for good measure. Drummer Matt Thomas is a powerhouse of a drummer and pummels the kit within an inch of its life. TJF should be huge, and with a self-financed live album on its way, we will all be able to relive the excellence of their live show in our bedrooms. I'm looking forward to catching them again in the future, but will have to get used to the fact they will be moving into larger rooms sooner rather than later.

Hype can be a double-edged sword. It can build you up, but it can also knock you down, and tonight it did the latter. Despite the high expectations I had from from the rave reviews about the band, and from their enjoyable debut record Manners, tonight Passion Pit fell short of the buzz that surrounds them. Although there are moments of pure electronic pop beauty in singles like 'The Reeling', other songs are lost in the ether in the live setting, missing the fragile layers that exist on the LP itself. That's not to say the band weren't playing well, but after The Joy Formidable's set it was hard for me to get as excited about them as the previous trio. A faulty mic lead also led to mayhem for the band played through 'I've Got Your Number' (one of their most popular tracks) as an instrumental, oblivious to the crowds blank response and shouts that there were no vocals. Luckily, following some swapping of cables the band obliged the crowds calls of "Again!" and played the track through once more with the vocals. Its probably the only time I've seen a band play the same song twice, with possibly the exception of Let's Wrestle, but they are a whole different kettle of fish. Maybe another time Passion Pit would shine, but for tonight at least the politely bow out, knowing that it wasn't their strongest show, but still an enjoyable evening.

Funeral for a Friend at the O2 Academy 30/10/2009

Right, I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into when I bought a ticket for this event. Organised by Vans, and heralded as the "Off the Wall New Music Night", I was almost certain of what the music would be like and what the demographic of the audience that matched this music would be. On both of these accounts I was not let down. Yet still, I made my way to the new O2 in order to catch two bands: one new, and one old. I would probably have tried to catch some of the smaller acts playing in Academy 3 if doors hadn't been so early, meaning that by the time I actually managed to get home from work, change, catch train, walk across Birmingham, get into the venue, I had missed a large chunk of the evening. Luckily, chances are I wouldn't have missed anything exciting. As I made my way through the maze of corridors between rooms, trying to a) find my bearings, and b) not get knocked over by marauding teens, I found myself in the smallest of the Academy rooms watching a band called Prego. They were playing fairly average/instantly forgettable alt.rock/emo, and looking at my watch I realised that local heroes Blakfish were about to start in Academy 2. I was excited. I left and made my way upstairs.

I love Blakfish, and tonight's performance just acted as fuel to the fire of my interest in them. The sound wasn't fantastic, with there being far too much bass in the mix, however they were just as mouthy as ever, levelling insults towards the other bands on the bill, Vans' merchandising policy, and members of the audience who had the audacity to leave the room mid-set. And there wasn't that many people in the room to begin with. They even managed to break part of the monitor. Playing through a set which comprised mostly of tracks from Champions, the band threw their all into 'Jeremy Kyle is a Marked Man' and the classic 'Economics', as well as the almighty group sing-along that is set closer 'Ringo Star: 2nd Best Drummer in the Beatles' with band and (what remained of) the crowd joining together with the cries that "it could be worse, we could be dead. I don't know how we survived, all I know is we did." Of course, it could be worse than that - they could be in any of the other over-the-top, over-produced, Americanized groups which littered the bill (they threw down several cheeky bars of a Green Day song, before laughing themselves out of it). Instead, Blakfish present something real and raw, it may sound unpolished tonight, but they are still fascinating and unpredictable to watch. It just seems that this crowd aren't that interested. And in one final act of rebellion Sam and Thom left the stage, walked to the back of the room and climbed on the bar, still singing the "it could be worse..." refrain... before they were promptly told off and asked to get down by security staff. Brilliant.

Following all that I was left at a bit of a loss. There was nothing that really took my fancy at all, and it was only roughly one set away from Funeral for a Friend who were obviously the old band I wanted to see. Cutting my losses, I decided to try and get a decent spot in the main room, which also meant having to watch Fightstar. It appears that to be a fan of Fightstar you either have to be an obnoxious teenager or approaching middle-age and trying to recapture your youth. Either way, their appeal was lost on me. Perhaps it's due to the fact I had little knowledge of their music outside of the odd single, or maybe it's just because to me most of their material sounded like sub-standard Deftones covers.

So it is left to Funeral for a Friend to lift my spirits. Considering I've been following the band off and on since the release of their first EP way back in 2002 I'm not sure how I've never managed to catch them live before. I'm not sure what the significance of the guy dressed as a banana was (Blink 182 video anyone?!) who came out to introduce the band to Stevie Wonder's 'I Just Called' but that aside, the band thrashed their way through a well thought out set which incorporated plenty of classics as well as some of their more recent tracks. This was a stroke of luck, as admittedly after their second LP my knowledge of them falters slightly. I was stoked to hear that tracks like 'Juno' and 'Bullet Theory' still rip it up and sound as fresh today as they did 7 years ago. In many ways, it's seeing bands like this that make me realise I am getting older. Corr, can you believe how long these guys have been around now! But hey, seeing them has helped fill the FfaF shaped void that has existed, and maybe just for that hour I was just like those obnoxious teens again, if only in spirit.