Noah And The Whale - ITunes Festival, Roundhouse, London - 24th July 2011 (Live Review)
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Written by Emma Newlyn
A brass band performance of ‘Bohemian Rapsody’ was not the first thing I expected to hear at the beginning of Noah and the Whale’s set at 2011’s iTunes festival. While it seemed a little bizarre, the whole crowd was cheering and singing before the band even stepped foot on the stage – and eventually they emerged to an audience who seemed overjoyed at having won tickets to see them this evening.
Opening their set with ‘Give a Little Love’, and then launching straight in to ‘Just Before We Met’, the band seemed to be able to rock up their nu-folk songs to make for an exciting and powerful beginning to the show.
‘Tonight’s The Kind Of Night’ was up next; a great up-beat sing along song from their most recent album. “I think it’d be a beautiful moment if everyone were to punch the air in the chorus of this song” Charlie Fink proposed, and the whole audience responded by punching the air and singing along to every word. ‘Give It All Back’, also from their new album, had that electronic 80’s theme mixed with some world music sounds that a few of the other songs have.
‘Love Of An Orchestra’ was missing some of the orchestral sounds which make the song so exciting on the record, but the band still managed to create a brilliant feel with the five of them.
‘Life is Life’, the most recent single, maintained that buzzing, bassy 80’s synth. It was another great feel good addition to both the live set and the album, and of course had the audience singing along by the first chorus.
You can watch the video to 'Life Is Life below.
‘Jocasta’ was yet another thumping sing-along-and-punch-the-air number of which Noah and the Whale have so many of, involving the audience as much as possible which makes for a brilliant live show.
“Now we’ve come to the romantic part of the set, the slow jams”, Charlie Fink announced as the beeping, swirling synth sounds of ‘Wild Thing’ emerged. Charlie Fink proved himself to be a powerful front man as they performed, while the band looked as though they loved every second of the night.
‘Rocks and Daggers’ and ‘Shape Of My Heart’ lead everyone to the ‘party part of the set’ where that familiar carnival beat from the first album returns, and of course ‘5 Years Time’ had to appear sooner or later; As the intro was played, the Roundhouse erupted with cheers all around. Noah and The Whale had played around with the arrangement and instrumental parts of the song; but you know you’ve got a hit when you can change things slightly and everyone still loves it just as much.
‘Waiting For My Chance’ seemed like an instant crowd favorite, and also from the new album, ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’ was definitely one of the songs that both the band and audience seemed to have been waiting for.
After their fourteenth song, Noah and the Whale left the stage and of course came back a minute later for their encore; the beautiful ‘First Days of Spring’. This epic and moving song was the perfect way to end their iTunes festival show, with the audience hanging on to every last word Charlie Fink sang. Finishing with a big rock ending, they left the crowd screaming and cheering for several minutes, proving that this was a show to be proud of and that they are definitely a band worth seeing live.
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‘Waiting For My Chance’ seemed like an instant crowd favorite, and also from the new album, ‘L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N’ was definitely one of the songs that both the band and audience seemed to have been waiting for.
