Bombay Bicycle Club / Lucy Rose at The Mandela Hall
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Lucy Rose cuts a small figure on the Mandela stage, but she brings a big presence, delivering a set of folky tunes in a delicate voice. She gets people on board early, with a big cheer from the half-full hall at the end of the opening song. Lucy tells us that she normally plays with a full band, but tonight it’s just her and a cellist delivering an acoustic stripped-down version of the songs. It works well, the dreamy poise of the songs coming over clearly, and the combination of guitar and cello makes for an effective sound. Winning the crowd over, she gets a raucous cheer at the end, especially from the big noisy blokes in the now nearly full crowd.
Bombay Bicycle Club hit the stage to a roar; everyone seems up for this. Anticipating an evening of rosy, melodic music to send us home with a Christmassy glow, we get much more than that - from the outset, Bombay are here to rock. Opener ‘Shuffle’ gets a good response, and when ‘Dust on the Ground’ comes soon after, we are already getting a sing-a-long.
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The band have had a lot of attention, playing the V Festival in their early days and having a song used on a Twilight movie soundtrack, and on this showing, they can more than justify the attention. Confident on stage, they play a lively set and give the appearance of being totally wrapped up and gone away with the more intense moments of the music.
The Bombays have produced three albums in as many years, covering a range of styles from something close to the folky vibe of the Fleet Foxes, through to a darker sound of bands like Interpol. What really stands out here is the fact that the songs, which sound very decent indeed in their recorded form, find a whole new dimension when played live.
Songs are amped up, and by the middle of the set the band are erupting into extended burst of crashing guitar. In the middle of the set we get a drum solo which has the crowd bouncing and whooping, and proggy washes of sound start to infiltrate some of the tracks to great effect.
‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ is very powerful live and ‘Evening / Morning’, ‘Ivy and Gold’, ‘Always Like This’ and ‘Magnet’ stand out. The band cover material from all three albums, with the early material from I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose just about winning on points with the crowd, but then they’ve had longer to know and love the songs.
Whilst we miss having a local band on the support bill, this is a brilliant and engaging show of energising music- a late contender for a gig of the year list.
Bert Scott
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