On 5th December 2011 at 21:26 Jimmy Horrigan wrote...
I was really looking forward to the gig but was disappointed on the night and thought it lacked atmosphere.
Fleet Foxes
Live at O2 Academy Leeds on Thursday, 1st December 2011
If you thought Fleet Foxes were living in a bucolic time warp the backdrop cast by an overhead projector at the start of the night would have done little to change your mind. The tacky wobbling image of a waterfall cascading into a mountain lake wouldn't have looked out of place in a 1970s travel agent or a comic sketch fronted by Morecambe and Wise.
But then again Fleet Foxes aren't really interested in lighting pyrotechnics, instead preferring to let their songs do the talking - probably a good job too because crowd interaction probably isn't on the top of their 'to do' list.
Their performance in Leeds was the culmination of a month-long European tour and shy songwriting lead singer Robin Pecknold was glad to be able to flex his vocal chords in his mother tongue. "It's nice to speak English, man", he said. That went down well with a packed Academy crowd who were almost reverential, bar the odd irritating scream, as they lapped up every song of a lengthy set delivered by this incredible band from Seattle.
The night kicked off with The Plains/Bitter Dancer from their second album Helplessness Blues which figured highly throughout the evening. It's one of those songs you think has finished and you're left looking pretty stupid when it hasn't and you're the only one clapping. The backdrop now looks more like a moving, glistening Christmas card - perfect for the start of December - but changes to an aerial view, above the clouds, of a rocky island - a cue for Mykonos which really hits the spot. Another track from Sun Giant follows, the jaunty and lilting English House.
The Bob Dylanesque Battery Kinzie, Bedouin Dress and the Paul Simon-influenced Sim Sala Bim are delivered perfectly as the light show switches between something akin to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Gerald Scarfe's animated sketches from The Wall.
As they knock out a few crowd-pleasing tracks from their eponymous first album (Your Protector, White Winter Hymnal and a brilliant version of Ragged Wood which climaxes with a much punchier bass line than on record) and you listen to the polite applause you just start to wonder how they've made it this far. They're a band that bypassed punk; city dwellers who seem to think they live in the country and in a different century; they're not trendy, all bar one has a bird nest beard and they ain't gonna have groupies queuing round the block, but that's just the point. Fleet Foxes are only interested in making beautiful, harmonious music - the rest ain't worth a bag of beans my friend. They may be a one-trick pony - but what a trick.
They've just finished a longish tour and yet they put their heart and souls into a one and a three quarter hour set as if their lives depended on it. (still haven't forgotten Pains of Being Pure at Heart playing for 33 minutes in York a couple of years ago).
After the un-Fleet Foxes like ending of An Argument (everyone needs a break from tunefulness occasionally) and in between Grown Ocean, Pecknold shows his vocal range on a couple of solo numbers. Blue Spotted Tail is dedicated to Paul with a thumbs up and then an unfamiliar but beautiful track called I Let You gets the thumbs up from the sell-out crowd.
The band leaves the stage after a rousing rendition of the Sun Rising, but return to tell us it's the end of the tour and someone shouts out "Where's the after party?" Ginger beer and grapefruit juice all round I reckon.
Blue Ridge Mountains would have been a great way to finish the night but they trump that with a goosebumpy version of Helplessness Blues. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. This is a band that just made light of the difficult second album and proved that when it comes to tunes no hound can touch these Foxes.
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On 7th December 2011 at 23:03 Warren wrote...
I know what you mean, but they're just not that sort of band and probably suit smaller venues. Saw them a couple of years ago at the same place and that had a bit more atmosphere because they were fairly new.
On 8th December 2011 at 12:28 Jimmy Horrigan wrote...
Very true Warren. Musically it was superb but just lacked that extra something. It probably doesn't help that the venue is not exactly at the top of my list - I just keep finding myself there when I want to see bands of a certain scale. Gimme Brudenell's intimacy over larger venues any day 
On 8th December 2011 at 12:52 Warren wrote...
Mate, I'm with you - and you're probably right about the atmosphere. Did a Washed Out review and gave them a pasting so was a bit more positive to redress the balance! Brudenell is my favourite ever venue and I've been to a few! FF played there a few years ago, must have been in 2008. Having said that, out of the big venues the Academy is one of the best, sound is always great. Don't ever go to the Barbican in York which is atrocious
