Yannis & the Yaw shimmer and shine at Shepherd’s Bush Empire.
Fresh off the back of winning The Artist Award at Rolling Stone UK Awards 2024 at the end of November, Yannis Philippakis of Yannis & the Yaw stated with trademark verbose eloquence during an interview at the event that with their “semi evolving project can get weird and can do things that can’t be done with Foals, a multi-cultural progressive project”.
Yannis & the Yaw’s debut five song EP ‘Lagos Paris London’ sees Yannis honour his late friend and collaborator Tony Allen, the Afrobeats drumming legend who he worked with on the record almost a decade ago. The EP, spawned in just two highly fruitful days spent sharing studio time in Paris in 2016 and writing a handfull of tracks together, blends the intoxicating beauty of the Afrobeat genre and the the more familiar indie rock tendencies of frontman Yannis’ Foals to superb effect.
At a special show at London’s thriving Shepherd’s Bush Empire held in association with War Child and the Music Venue Trust, tonight acts as double celebration as it marks the final anniversary event of the year for Transgressive Records, who have also worked closely with Foals throughout their illustrious career.
Joined by Tony’s regular collaborators Vincent Taeger, who Yannis quips is the “Teager who will not be caged!” on percussion and marimba, Vincent Taurelle on the keyboard and Ludovic Bruni on bass and finally regular Foals collaborator Kit Monteith on percussion, their sound is nothing short of formidable on the live stage.
A fluid performance with lengthy introductions and free flowing jams within the tracks clearly suits Yannis and his ethos, beaming from ear with the other band mates. He exudes a totally different energy to the intense, aggressive Yannis we so often see on stage with Foals, where he is a raw ball of energy stalking the stage and diving into the crowd at every given moment. ‘Night Green, Heavy Love’ is tantalising with its looping riff expertly building and evoking a feeling of imminent doom though out right up to the track’s climax. ‘Walk Through Fire’ has a ferocious energy that enraptures the packed crowd.
Here, he feels totally at home jamming and blending his signature sound and throaty vocals with afrobeat and jazz sounds, and seems to totally lose himself. The cover of Tony Allen’s classic ‘Afro Disco Beat’ mesmerisingly jams along for over an impressive fifteen minutes, with Yannis bopping around the stage and revelling in the beats with an air of nonchalance.
Set highlight ‘Clementine’ has Yannis announcing with deadpan delivery “Here’s one to warm you up to counteract the brassic, Baltic temperatures out there”, getting everyone moving with its tropical dance vibe you can’t help but bop to. There is a teasing sense that this could be a rolling collaborative project for Yannis, enabling him to explore different themes and musical genres that hangs in the air at the end of a glorious performance tonight.
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Words: Brendan Sharp
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