Last night I was lucky enough to see White Lies in Bristol and below is a review of them and they're two support bands.
First to take the stage was Active Child. Active Child are an L.A. duo and comprised of, for the first two songs at least, an electric harp and bass with backing from their apple macs. To be brutally honest they did nothing for me; they're music was full of various but inaccessible layers of sounds, synthetic drums and his singing style was to say the least erratic. There were to be fair moments within most of their songs that were interesting and I was willing to go along with but then they always followed these glimmers of hope with some more pretentious harp playing. This coupled with an outwardly religious theme in their music made it inaccessible to me. Needless to say the crowd almost exclusively didn't appreciate their performance and I wouldn't recommend them.
After Active Child followed Crocodiles. They sauntered on to stage, which was quite a feat for the singer as he was wearing sunglasses, and started playing their walls of guitars with gusto. Their songs were good and distinctly reminiscent of Sex Pistols and The Clash with the vibrant energy of punk and with the singer howling animal calls just like Joe Strummer. The front man also took hip thrusting to a new extreme in his songs making it look like he was with an invisible woman which added a slightly comedic effect to his performance. The crowd willingly lapped up their rock and they had us head bopping and foot tapping quickly. They're songs however were not incredible with a few too many simple chords and not enough willingness to break out of their own patterns. The highlight of their set was a song led by a simple bass chord and the drums.
I wouldn't personally go out of my way to see this band again but equally I wouldn't mind seeing them again.
Then finally it was time for White Lies (joined by two other musicians to help recreate their music on tour). They were enthralling. The second they came on and started playing their unique brand of depressed yet inexplicably uplifting music the crowd went wild; it was clear everyone was totally committed to this band. Opening with 'A Place To Hide' they took the stage by storm. Following the initial high of their entrance they played some of their biggest hits as well keeping the crowd in a state of euphoria. Instead of keeping to known crowd pleaser's from their first album they also played many songs from their recently released second album which were just as enthusiastically received with everyone singing along.
They created a good rapport with the crowd with the front man seeming to be touchingly thrilled at the amount of love they were being given and smiling happily and making lots of eye contact whilst simultaneously giving a heart felt, expressive and gesticulated performance.
After they left the stage the crowd was having none of it and screamed for more and they obliged playing three more songs and ending with their recent single 'Bigger Than Us'. Highlights of their set were 'Lose My Life', 'EST', 'Strangers', 'Bad Love' and 'Bigger Than Us'.
White Lies are a great live band. I went there expecting to see a good band but my expectations were blown away probably because they've had to become so good live through supporting huge bands such as Biffy Clyro and Muse. All of their songs release their full potential when played live and after seeing them I am now a much bigger fan and love many more of their songs.
There was something about the atmosphere, the crowd and the genius performance that culminated to make last nights gig the best I've been to yet and because of that I recommend them to anyone who likes their music even just a little bit.
Thanks to Reece for the pictures.
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