Farewell, supporting YMAS - The Astoria, London 27/10/08
November 5, 2008, 12:42 AM Views: 350
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 Not having had much exposure to American band Farewell other than their MySpace page, I was keen to get a good look and listen to them tonight at their London date supporting You Me At Six.
A mixed bag of emo, skate pop-punk and what can only be described as jock-geek enters the stage, otherwise known as Farewell, and opens with track "Stay Pretty". Though the music is catchy, fun pop punk, and in some ways more similar to the genre of Blink 182 than the more commonly likened Fall Out Boy, you’re under no impression you’re going to hear something brand new tonight and I didn’t have a problem with this; not everything is meant to push things forward. But despite this, you do notice pretty instantly front man Marshall Davis as having great magnetism and stage presence. Admittedly, this is largely due to the sheer pleasantness of his looks, but he does hold the stage well and keeps everyones attention focused solely on him, despite Farewell being a virtual unknown to the young crowd here tonight.
Next song they perform is "Anchors Away", which reminds me slightly of Journeys' "Don't Stop Believing" when it gets to the "on and on" bit in the chorus (but I think that would happen if any emo band used those words in the way they sing). No out of tune notes spotted so far and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves, stating their excitement at playing such a large venue. "Zelda" follows on and was possibly my least favourite of the set, despite it not sounding as over produced live as it does on their MySpace, which brings me to my next point on how the band sound live. For those that have heard Farewells recorded music, they do have a very polished arguably overproduced sound (all music from this genre does, sweeping statement I know but it's true) however live you get a chance to hear more passion in the songs without the unnecessary production, which I think bodes well for them and in particular this set. It may not be an exact replica of their recorded music, but in my opinion a somewhat better version.
"Hey Heather" came as the poppiest song in their set, again a song that wouldn't seem out of place on a Sum41 album. A brief introduction came for what would soon be the set high in "War", which incidently at first I thought was called "whore" and soon realised my mistake (hey, I told you I hadn't heard much of their stuff before!). The mellow guitar anthem part I guess, and doing the deed well as I thought it sounded great and the band were really getting into the swing of things, bassist Buddy Bell particularly with his distinct glasses and slightly endearing geeky look, rocking out whole heartedly and making the most of the length of the stage, bless. "Cut you a new smile" was another well performed song, and you can't help but laugh at the opening lines "If you keep running your mouth I'm gonna cut you a new smile, bring those teeth to the front so I can knock 'em out" , haha, I love ridiculous lyrics like that.
Farewell finished their short set with "Eighty Eight", after having asked how many people had actually heard of Farewell before (a scattering of 3 hands poked out), and then the great closer "First on the blog", a shouty finale. The verdict - an enjoyable set that got the crowd involved and their attention (and curiosity) fully held to a surprising level, despite the large majority never having heard of the band before (and of course having the difficult task of being the first support band on). They certainly held my attention, though, like I mentioned earlier, with a front man like Marshall how could they not?
Last edited by altsounds : November 5, 2008 at 11:28 PM.
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| | | | Overall Rating | | 7 | | Vocals / Lyrics | | 5 | | Musicianship | | 7 | | Production | | 6 | | Creativity | | 6 | | Lastability | | 6 | | Reviewers Tilt | | 7 |
63% | |
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You Me At Six - The Astoria, London 27/10/08