Friday 26 June 2009

Foxy

After making a cameo appearance at the staff pissup (particularly bad free buffet at the Hogshead - insulting considering we spend a good deal of our time and salaries there), I accompanied Emma to Fleet Foxes, last year's critical hit, performing in Wolverhampton as a warm-up for Glastonbury.

Zoot Horn has already compared them to Crosby Stills Nash and Young - I can see why, but I thought of FF as much more similar to a gentler 70s folk band, America, a rather wet but commercially successful lot who were actually only half American. Fleet Foxes are part of this 70s revival going on in indie at the moment - beards compulsory, close harmony singing, mostly songs about love.

The problem with this sort of stuff is that part of the attraction is the musical skill - craft rather than excitement. It runs the risk that band and audience want to hear the album exactly as it is on vinyl, admiring the harmonies and fretwork. However, it wasn't like that last night. These hirsute, portly chaps wandered on and introduced themselves as Blur, and kept up a fairly witty stream of banter for the whole evening, taking potshots at the Killers, and generally having fun. Two thumbs up! Incidentally, they asked from the stage whether the rumours that Jackson was dead were true, but nobody paid much attention. So when people ask where I was when I heard, I'll be able to say that I was listening to some decent music.

All in all, it was very impressive, were it not for Student Grant behind me, talking about himself throughout, punctuated by the occasional whoop as if to prove that he was listening to the band, and attempting to pogo most inappropriately. I decided not to have a word. As the only person in the room not wearing a checked shirt, I already felt rather exposed.

Oddly enough, having seen Fleet Foxes, I met an actual fox on the way home, sitting in a driveway as I walked past. It was only a cub, and seemed completely unbothered by me - it just sat there watching as I came within a few feet of the little fella.

Final thought: watch out for The Nightingales on Glastonbury coverage tomorrow. They're on at 11 on the Peel Stage, as befits Peel's favourite band. Making a special appearance on accordion is Helen Apperley - what a professional debut!


6 comments:

Newton Heath 18 said...

Yes but your striped shirt made a statement.

Benjamin Judge said...

I do hope that comment about 'decent music' wasn't claiming Michael Jackson wasn't decent. OK he went poor but come on, Off The Wall? That album is amazing. Don't Stop, til You Get Enough? Can you really pretend not to like that?

neal said...

I'm with Ben here, Off The Wall is brilliant and so was The Jackson 5 stuff. I Want You Back must be the most danceable pop song ever, there's no way you can't bounce around to it without a big stupid grin on your face. That early music was filled with such joy that it makes the rest of his life seem so much more tragic.

Zoot Horn said...

I agree Neal. My girlfriend and her family have now entered 7 years of aural mourning, and MJ has been blaring out of the kitchen since Thursday. However, they got onto the earlier Jackson's stuff today - I was too old and too cool for it at the time, but 'I Want You Back' pumps out so much energy that I'm outta ma seat movin' ma feet to the motown beat in no time.

Zoot Horn said...

See. I'm so moved I even put an apostrophe in the wrong place. I'm going to try to learn to play it now, but I need to be in the right frame of mind. Where are those paracetamol..?

The Plashing Vole said...

Washed-Up Pop Star Succumbs To Inevitable Overdose should not lead the global news. Only the World Service was immune.

Yes, there are some good Jackson songs - Billie Jean is hugely impressive - but I'm not going to be stampeded into pretending that my cultural landscape has been changed. For good or ill, Jackson wasn't part of my youth and he hasn't done anything good since I've been an adult. I don't even know some of the songs to which you're referring. That's just my experience.