Bombay Bicycle Club

Sold out show treated to old favourites and new material

No one could replicate Jack Steadman’s awkwardly charming and enthralling vocal style if they tried. His ability to switch between nasal bleating, deep Nick Cave-esque utterances and bittersweet crooning with such intensity and actually sound good makes him so unique. It’s this talent, teamed with the energy he exudes onstage, that makes Steadman such a powerful frontman.

Add to this a band as tight as Johnny Borrell’s jeans to carry him forth and a venue packed-out with over 2,000 fans and you get one hell of a spectacular live experience. With their stabbing guitar-riffs, Bombay Bicycle Club deliver a sumptuous brand of indie rock ‘n’ roll, with the unique addition of Steadman’s vocals.

This is no more prevalent than when they play ‘Dust On The Ground’. Steadman beams at the crowd as his voice drops several octaves with quivering intonation, leading the song from vulnerable and slightly unsettling to an epic climax fit for a stadium.

Listening to a Bombay Bicycle Club recording is enjoyable, but nothing compares to seeing them up there playing live in the flesh. Their ardour and zeal for performance only make the live experience more intense and worthwhile: they are a band crafted for live shows through and through. Because only then do you see their energy and devotion to music, and Steadman’s trance-like state as he writhes and jerks around, giving himself to the song.

They maintain this unwavering dedication throughout the set, manipulating the dynamic to take the crowd, chew them up and spit them out, then come back for more when they’re done with the slow stuff. Lights flash on and off behind the foursome as they grab hold of each and every person in the room, as if their success could all slip away if they didn’t. Their smiles show that they know they’ve got too tight a grip for this to happen, but they won’t chance it.

Tonight, we are treated to some new material. The driving guitars of ‘Ode To Lucy’ are of the usual well-loved crop of Bombay Bicycle Club numbers that have you reaching for your old Placebo albums out of nostalgia. But the loosely funk-inspired ‘Bed’ on the other hand, is lacking in their usual momentum and that breathtaking Bombay Bicycle Club factor.

Things aren’t at a loss for long though, as ‘Always Like This’ more than makes up for any temporary shortcomings. Throwing a sprinkling of calypso into the mix, the song brings yet more diversity to their set, while Steadman croons into the mic in front of the crowd as they sing back to him.

When they leave the stage, it’s obvious they’re coming back, not just because someone’s onstage tweaking guitars as soon as they’ve gone. They give just as much to the crowd, when they return, if not more, then leave us again with a sweet wall of feedback and a desperate need to see them play again.

Words by Clare Vooght

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