Live Review: Friendly Fires at Oxford Zodiac Carling Academy (5th October 2008)

I’ve seen Friendly Fires before, at Hydro Connect just over a month ago, where I fell in love with them… since then I bought the album and last night finally got to see them again, this time headlining Oxford’s Zodiac Carling Academy, one of my favourite venues to see bands.

After the Justice-lite warmup from Dublin’s Jape, Friendly Fires bounce out onto stage, lead singer Ed Macfarlane sporting a bodywarmer which was quickly removed about 10 seconds into the first song, and by the 30 second mark he’d already started his rather exberant thrusting which would put most sex addicts to shame.

Blasting their way through their debut album, the songs feel as fresh as the day they were written – it may be the case that they’ve played them just about every day for the past year, but we certainly couldn’t tell.

Ending out the set with Paris before a two song encore, Ed went into the crowd, providing security with a small headache, mobbed by a mixture of teenage girls and sweaty old school ravers a bit past their best. This may have been the case, but he really didn’t care, blasting through chorus and verse as normal…

It may have been a Sunday night, but nobody had told the rather full Zodiac – come the end of their 45 minute set it felt as good as 4am on Saturday morning. This is how live music should be – it leaves you sweaty, stinking, covered in beer, and a smile on your face that you just can’t wipe off easily.

After the jump: Pictures, pictures and more pictures….

Above: Jape at Oxford’s Carling Academy

Above: Jape at Oxford’s Carling Academy