The Fratellis @Leeds O2 Academy
- Dec 31, 2016
- 3 min read
WORDS: RHIANNON BODEN PHOTOS: JACK BARKER
In the eyes of their fans, Costello Music is both the epitome of The Fratellis work, and the album that most authentically captures who it is they are. It’s an album revered in its simplicity, famed for its unabashedly feel good attitude and undeniably catchy choruses, an album wherein every riff is burned into the brains of their diverse and loyal fan group. Most of all though, it is an album now ten years old, leading to a run of one-off shows up and down the UK that aims to prove it has only grown better with age. That said, before the grinning Glaswegian lads can take their turn, someone has to take on the formidable task of opening for them. Johnny Lloyd seems like an odd choice at first, looking more like the patron of a poetry slam or an obscure basement show than a part of the boisterous crowd he is faced with, and for the few scant minutes the leather-clad stranger is on stage, but not singing, the audience do indeed seem distrustful. One song however, proves enough to change their minds.
His folk-tinged, atmospheric rock, is a slow burner, more nuanced and less immediately gratifying than what’s to come, but his newest offering The Dreamland EP proves impossible not to sink into, with the minimalist Happy Humans and pop-edged Hello Death being particular standouts. By the end of a set filled with mountain metaphors and deliciously sincere lyrics, it seems unlikely that anyone is left unconverted, even if they got far more than they perhaps bargained for.
The Fratellis, for their part, are greeted with a sold out show and thunderous, fanatical applause. They engage little, Jon speaks maybe ten words between songs across the whole set, but pretty soon it becomes clear they don’t need to. They are merely facilitating, a membrane for their fans to channel their own love of the music through, in fact their complete and unfaltering knowledge of the band they know so well almost makes the presence of the guys obsolete. However, it is only after five songs whose origins lay in other albums, when the chords of Henrietta cut through the academy and signals the start of Costello Music, that the audience is really kicked into fever pitch.
Flathead, Vince The Lovable Stoner and Whistle For The Choir pass in much the same fashion, with the crowd rising spectacularly to the challenge of being expected to make the night memorable for themselves. Flares appear seemingly from nowhere, crowd surfers abound, and the thrashing knot at the front of the stage has all the camaraderie of a festival tent, football pitch or a working men’s club when Chelsea Dagger goes off like a bomb. The trio are subdued, fighting tour fatigue and damaged vocal chords that led to the re-scheduling of future shows in the new year, but none the less they perform admirably. The inclusion of A Heady Tale and Here We Stand, again harking from another album, feels unnecessary and takes away from the what everyone is there to celebrate, but as everyone files out, sweaty and grinning and stumbling, about one thing there is no question: Fun is what The Fratellis are all about, and they provided it in abundance.
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