One of the more unique songs to be reviewed recently on Steve Lamacq’s Roundtable on 6music is Friendly Fires’s reinterpretation of ‘Hold On’, the dancefloor hit by New York City electro duo Holy Ghost! It’s only one half of a split single to be released in early March: Holy Ghost! returned the favour by covering Friendly Fires’s singalong ‘On Board’. When asked about it previously by BBC 6music News, singer Ed Macfarlane said that they had definite desire to do a reinterpretation of the Holy Ghost! track rather than simply a remix like the painstaking one he did for Phoenix’s ‘Fences’.

This is no doubt unusual, having versions of big hits by two heavy hitters of the current electro dance scene on the same single, but what I like most about these reinterpretations is that these were recorded in mutual appreciation of each other’s music. That is, one band was fully aware that the other was going to put their personal loving stamp on one of their tracks and vice versa. Both acts also did instrumental versions of the the songs they covered; Holy Ghost! provided a dub mix of ‘On Board’ as well.

Speaking on Monday to Steve Lamacq by phone from his band’s East London recording digs, Macfarlane further explained that the idea came about when Friendly Fires ran into Holy Ghost! in Corsica last summer (presumedly at dance music festival Calvi on the Rocks). Macfarlane is a massive fan of the NYC duo’s work, so when Holy Ghost!’s Alex Frankel suggested the idea of doing covers of each other’s songs, he jumped at the chance. He considers both songs to be “really old” (released in 2007 – that’s old?) and is really happy that the project came to fruition. You can catch the interview on iPlayer until next Monday afternoon, the 22nd of February, here (fast forward about an hour and 19 minutes into the show).

Friendly Fires’s take of ‘Hold On’ starts shimmery as their own holiday anthem, ‘Paris’. With the pronounced bass lines, bouncy synths and in-your-face percussion (more agogô, more cowbell!), there’s no mistake that this is from the St. Albans trio. If it’s even possible, the chorus of “and hold tight, don’t make more plans / and don’t talk, don’t say no words / and be still, now move like this / and hold on, until the kiss…” seems even sexier than it was in the Holy Ghost! original. And the Fires’s version feels tighter, about a minute shorter than the original.

‘On Board’ has been made much more dancefloor friendly by Holy Ghost! Their track features backup singers credited as ‘the DFA Celestial Choir’; perhaps one of their members provided the female laugh when the song starts, reminscent of the laugh at the start of Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’. I’m really liking the echo effects on the vocals, the repeated “don’t stop!“s from the choir halfway through, and the wickedly funky underlying bass lines so much that I almost don’t miss the cowbell. It should also be noted here that this song marks one of the last songs !!! and LCD Soundsystem’s late drummer Jerry Fuchs played on before his untimely death in November 2009.

After the cut: If you’re unfamiliar with either original, we’ve got you covered. You can watch Friendly Fires’s humourous video for ‘On Board’, then listen to ‘Hold On’ (as Holy Ghost! apparently don’t have an official promo for it).
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Now halfway through December and getting ever closer to the end of the year, it’s high time to write those “best of” end of year posts. As much as a nail-biter it was to choose my five favourite gigs of 2009, it allowed me to reflect on all the great gigs I’ve had the opportunity to go to in the Washington D.C. area and elsewhere. And it was a wonderful reminder on what great music is out there if you just open your mind and let yourself feast on what the current music scene has on offer. I encourage everyone one of you to go out to more gigs in 2010 and support the music community!

As USA editor of TGTF, I’d like to note that the majority of the gigs I’ve been to this year have been on my side of the pond and usually in my hometown of Washington D.C. But I think you’ll recognise most of the bands I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live this year. Here’s my top five of 2009:

5. Pains of Being Pure at Heart at D.C.’s Black Cat (Wednesday 30th September) – This didn’t feel like just any show. It felt a reunion and you were surrounded by friends, because the Pains have many friends in the Washington area. The guitars, the synths, and vocals from Kip Berman and Peggy Wang – they all combined to create something heavenly.

4. Camera Obscura at D.C.’s 9:30 Club (Sunday 21st June) – This gig featuring songs from their album released this year, ‘My Maudlin Career’, like ‘Honey in the Sun’ and the gorgeous ‘Swans’. Other previous gems like ‘Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken’ brought the house down as Traceyanne Campbell’s beautiful voice rang throughout the club. One incredible show. So disappointed they skipped over D.C. on their autumn tour.

3. Dot to Dot Festival in Nottingham (Sunday 24th May) – My first music festival, ever. This was my second time seeing Friendly Fires and their first time headlining a festival to boot. It was amazing to be among lots and lots of their devoted English fans who turned Rock City in a sea of bodies dancing to their beats. It was also great to see Patrick Wolf again and Ladyhawke for the first time (the two acts directly preceding Friendly Fires at Rock City). Earlier in the day I was able to take in Matt Abbott and Skint and Demoralised at Nottingham-Trent Uni’s Glo Bar, followed by part of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s set in the uni’s student union main room.

Skint and Demoralised

Patrick Wolf

Ladyhawke

Friendly Fires

2. Friendly Fires at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg (Thursday 13th August) – Not a fan of getting bruised up by the drunks who stormed the stage like maniacs during the ‘Ex Lover’ encore, but this one gets high marks for the incredible crowd energy – so much energy that I worried that the floor would break out from under us from all the jumping around and dancing going on during their set. Further, Ed Macfarlane jumped down into the crowd during ‘Paris’, causing additional mayhem. This is probably one of the last times he’ll ever launch himself into the audience because I doubt his personal safety from this point forth can be guaranteed (!)

1. Elbow at D.C.’s 9:30 Club (Tuesday 4th August) – Somehow Washington managed to score one of only three American headlining dates in all of 2009 from the Manchester quintet. They didn’t disappoint, the whole crowd singing along to every word of Guy Garvey’s. The man has one amazing voice and kept everyone in the club spellbound. The show was simply brilliant. It didn’t hurt that Guy came out an hour before the show and kindly agreed to take photos with us fans who queued up early outside the club before doors opened.

After the jump is a full list of all the gigs I’ve been to in 2009 (in reverse chronological order) so you have an idea of the banquet I had to choose from.
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Habits are hard to break. This particular habit of mine isn’t especially dangerous (I’m not including getting stepped on by drunks in Brooklyn) or detrimental (unless you count lack of sleep). This year, my worst habit of all has been looking longingly and futilely at Friendly Fires’s tour dates and scheming ways to get to their gigs. Most of the time, an event is ridiculously expensive to get to that it’s worthless to even consider trying to go. (Two examples: Splendour in the Grass in Australia and Calvi on the Rocks, anyone?) Why all the scheming? The band has not returned to D.C. since they played here in March with White Lies on the NME Presents Tour, so if I’ve wanted to see them, I’ve had to travel. This time I went for the Nylon Magazine Winter Music Tour stop in Boston, Massachusetts – over 300 miles northeast of Washington. The Fires played a sold-out show there at the Paradise Rock Club with fellow Beggars Group act the xx.

I was lucky that night for a couple different reasons. One, I actually had a ticket in hand, unlike one of my good friends and many other people we met who arrived at the club early trying to find someone who had an extra or two to sell. I’m not sure how many people actually got in this way. Two, Boston was experiencing unseasonably mild weather (although the corduroy jacket I’d chosen to wear that night was still ill-advised, as when I stood outside of the club for a short time before the bar to the club opened, I thought my arms might freeze off). Three, I had seen the xx earlier at their in-store at Newbury Comics, and it sounded like some people at the gig were unaware that there had even been an in-store. Once inside, most people I talked to were most excited to bop along to Friendly Fires but they were interested in seeing the xx because the xx had never played in Boston before. I filled some people in on them, so I think I helped garner some additional excitement for the xx’s set.

The xx - Romy Madley-Croft on vocals and guitar, Oliver Sim on vocals and bass, and Jamie Smith on percussion and programming – came out from under the cover of darkness. A minimal show of coloured lights brightened the stage slightly during their set but kept things dramatic for the xx’s brand of dream pop. I’ve seen this band four times now (if you count the earlier in-store), and I have yet to be disappointed in their performance. The beauty of the vocals and guitar work of Madley-Croft and Sim have to be heard live to be believed. With its steamy lyrics and melodramatic percussion, ‘Infinity’ is my current favourite. If you don’t feel the desire within the song and it doesn’t start oozing out of your pores, you must not have a pulse. Since this was an opening slot, they only played eight songs. But they already have another North American jaunt scheduled for next year.

And then there were Friendly Fires. It seemed incomprehensible to me that I had seen them perform less than 4 months ago in New York; surely more time had passed than that? When Nylon Magazine announced back in July that Friendly Fires had been chosen to headline their first-ever Winter Music Tour to set the winter on fire, they weren’t kidding. For sure, this style of music is great year round but even more so in winter, when everyone’s suffering from seasonal affective disorder and wondering when the sun will shine again. That night at the Paradise, multicoloured lights shimmered brightly from the stage as Friendly Fires played hosts to a lively dance party.

A personal favourite, ‘Lovesick’, with its wicked bass lines from touring bassist Rob Lee and Jack Savidge’s pounding backbeats, got the party started. Singer Ed Macfarlane shimmied like a man possessed on ‘In the Hospital’, the audience cheering him on with gusto. Edd Gibson ran around the stage with his guitar, eager to give every section of the venue some of his precious attention. I admired the way the band powered through the high-octane ‘On Board’. (Incidentally, the song will be available on an extremely limited edition 12″ at specialist record shops and at their dance party at London’s Coronet on Friday.) The band’s energetic routine lasted all the way through ‘Paris’ and ‘Ex Lover’, the band’s last two songs and the ones that received the most applause. But then it was over. Now we wait – rather impatiently I might add – for album #2!

After the jump: set lists and photos.

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Courtesy of and much thanks to the friendly (no pun intended) people at Baeblemusic, we can bring you the live version of ‘Kiss of Life’ performed by everyone’s favourite dance pop band from St. Albans, Friendly Fires, at le poisson rouge in New York’s Greenwich Village on 12 August 2009. Click here to watch the entire sweaty gig at Baeblemusic’s Web site. I like to think I was one of the ‘boldly dressed concert goers’ described by their reviewers, and I do believe I spot the back of my head a couple times (one of their cameramen was right behind me the entire night). But never mind all that…just pull up a chair and enjoy the revelry.

We here at TGTF like Friendly Fires…and like them an awful lot. So much that I feel the need to share with you UKers two videos from the band’s debut appearance on American late-night television, on a show called Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. This was their last performance stateside before heading back to England for an appearance at Reading/Leeds this weekend.

Their new single ‘Kiss of Life’ was a wee bit tentative at the start…

But by the time they got to ‘Jump in the Pool’, they were definitely right back in their element:

The expanded version of Friendly Fires’ debut album, including a live DVD and song remixes, will be released on XL Recordings in the UK on 31 August.

Part 1 of my Big Apple Friendly Fires mini-tour adventure was in artsy Greenwich Village. From my hotel and two subway rides and a longish walk away and I was outside the Music Hall of Williamsburg, run by the same folks who run the famed Bowery Ballroom, where part 2 awaited me. Friendly Fires played here before, in October 2008, when they opened for Lykke Li – rather inconveniently, their time with the Swedish pop princess did not include a stop in Washington. This meant that I didn’t get to see them in my hometown until they were headlining their own tour (well, actually co-headlining the NME Presents tour with White Lies).

Brooklyn feels like a world away from Manhattan, what us non-New Yorkers envision when we think about “New York City”. (Just so you know, New York is a considerable hike from Washington, so I’m familiar and comfortable with the city as much as you Brits are.) So I wondered if this crowd was going to be radically different from the one I saw the previous night. There wasn’t much room to move when we were inside le poisson rouge, so I hoped that with a bigger venue, I might actually be able to get my groove on, even though the gig was sold out. I did, sort of…read on…

The venue reminds me of a small version of Washington’s 9:30 Club in set-up – there’s a balcony for people who want to look down and not fight with the crowd on the floor (which, in retrospect, might have been a safer vantage point for this concert). I was able to get a great spot – right at the speakers dead center of the stage – and the place was only slightly filled for the opening act, the xx. Their debut album ‘xx’ just came out last week on 17 August, and BBC 6music made it their album of the day on 20 August. They’re getting played on Radio1, which I take as a good sign. They make for a good match label-wise; the xx’s album was released on Young Turks, sister label to Friendly Fires’ XL Recordings, so it’s all in the family so to speak.

And while you might think it’s quite a leap from the xx’s musical style to Friendly Fires’s, think again: sexy music is sexy music, whether it be sultry lyrics paired with bass-heavy rock of the xx or pained yet exuberant lyrics about relationships combined with buoyant electropop from Friendly Fires. My knowledge of the xx was limited to hearing their singles on Steve Lamacq’s 6music programme, so I really didn’t know what to expect. Live, the xx didn’t disappoint. They are the real deal. The band has two singers – bassist Oliver Sim and guitarist Romy Madley-Croft – which makes for an interesting dynamic all too rare in popular music today. While the band has a subdued presence on stage compared to the Fires (read: they aren’t jumping around onstage and hitting percussion with gusto), they make up for it in emotional feeling in their songs. ‘Crystalised’ and ‘Basic Space’ were fabulous live, as well as their take on the Womack and Womack classic, ‘Teardrops’. I hope they tour in America soon, but urgent note to UKers: catch them in Britain while you can!

You will find me down at the front for gigs, because it’s the only way I can guarantee I can see what’s going on stage. And when you’re at the front, you often lose track of what’s going on behind you. This is what happened at this gig. I turned around and was faced with a wall of people. Where did all these people come from? Obviously, they were here for Friendly Fires. I think the band and their crew were cognisant that gig-goers were not happy for the long wait the night before, so things were set quickly like clockwork and the band arrived on stage via a upper level stage door at the appointed time, to the thunderous applause to all their adoring fans in the club below. Two guys next to me pumped their fists in the air and yelled their heads off. This being my fourth Friendly Fires gig, I didn’t think much of the extremely loud shouting from excited fans. Vocalist/bassist/synth player Ed Macfarlane addressed us in a serious tone, with “we’re Friendly Fires. This is our second and last night in New York. I want to leave here with happy memories, so come on, please!” Looking back at it now, I laugh at this because he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen later that night.

The show was amazing, definitely one of the best gigs I’ve been to in all my life. Everyone in the venue, every girl and guy, knew all the words and were singing along loudly. They were dancing along and were so genuinely happy to be there. I was loving being able to move around and shake a tail feather, which is what Friendly Fires’s music is all about. The floor was moving up and down so much I wondered just how much more force would be required for the floorboards to break under our feet.

‘Skeleton Boy’, complete with brass section, blew me away this night. It’s so very different from the album version (as are most of the songs they play on the road). Run, do not walk, to see Friendly Fires live. The album is great but live the songs are even better. ‘Kiss of Life’ gets my vote for the FIFA 2010 World Cup theme song; the Brooklyn crowd just loved it, and I think even football fans would appreciate its brilliance, especially with Edd Gibson’s wicked, wicked guitar solo that he should be playing on the music video. The only thing that could make Friendly Fires better live: new songs, or possibly them playing some covers to mix things up.

Then came…utter mayhem. During ‘Paris’, a drunk girl decided she had to get onstage, some way, somehow. While she was waving her arms about to the music, Macfarlane was down on the floor with the rest of us, singing away and reveling in the crowd’s reaction to the music. I am rather embarrassed to say this but, since it was through no fault of my own and it was the crowd pushing themselves forward to try to touch the man, I might as well own up to it: during the song, I got caught between him and the stage, completely unable to move. Eventually, he got back onstage and despite his best intentions to gently nudge the aforementioned drunk girl back down into the crowd, she didn’t want to leave, so one of the Fires’s crew had to pick her up and deposit her back into the waiting arms of the crowd. (Somehow this same girl made her way back onstage later to maul Macfarlane with a kiss when he was trying in vain to play his synth.)

While moshers were reported at Friendly Fires’s sold-out iTunes Festival gig in July, I certainly was not expecting this in America. Nor was I expecting the 25+ people who stormed the stage and joined the band for the encore of ‘Ex Lover’. I’m not sure if this is a preview of what’s to come, but it sure made one thing loud and clear: America loves Friendly Fires. And we’re eager to have them back here performing for us on this side of the pond. You Brits have no idea how lucky you are.

After the jump: setlists and photos.

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Le poisson rouge (“the red fish” in French) is a cute little club at number 158 Bleecker Street in New York’s Greenwich Village. A sign outside insists it “serves art and alcohol”, which sounds like a somewhat pretentious designation for a venue hosting Friendly Fires, a decidedly unpretentious band. Upon entering the club, you see that the small lobby upstairs sports an aquarium, set off on an angle, filled with koi (but not one truly red fish was to be seen). Why I am going on about LPR? I guess it’s because I never thought a band like Friendly Fires, whose members have insisted their music is for everyone, would be playing some place artsy-fartsy like this. However, after the end of a two-night mini-tour with the band, this was decidedly the swankier and more interesting of the two venues (for one, it’s got a very wide stage making it easier for punters to be closer to the action). But before I digress further, let’s get to the music…

Starting the evening off right were native New Yorkers the Phenomenal Handclap Band. Like most smaller bands I’ve come to know and love, I found out about them through a favourite BBC Radio show – specifically Radcliffe/Maconie on Radio2, who hosted the band for a short, three-song set the second week of July at the Manchester Oxford Road studios. On the strength of that performance, I was really looking forward to seeing this big band live. And I do mean big – their live show comprises 8 people, each who sing and play an instrument. If you like to dance to mad beats, kick-arse guitar lines, synths, cowbell, tambourines, or any combination of these – you will really like this band. The fresh ‘You’ll Disappear’ will remind you of the best, glitter ball disco tunes from the ’70s. The summery ‘15 to 20′ has an infectious chorus and will get your whole body bopping to the beat. The PHB will be joining Friendly Fires out west for 2 California dates, in Pomona on 23 August and Los Angeles on 24 August), but us Washingtonians are lucky enough to have them all to ourselves at DC9 on 21 August.

After the stage was emptied of the PHB’s many instruments, it was time for Friendly Fires’s crew to start setting up their stuff. Sound problems caused this to take a lot longer than some of the patrons wanted to wait, who cat-called the crew and annoyed the rest of us who realized rather prudently that waiting for everything to be set just right would allow for the best performance possible by the band. Lead singer/synth player/bassist Ed Macfarlane was jumping up and down outside the green room door like Tigger, obviously impatient to get onstage and get things underway. It was well after midnight before the lights went down again and the band finally took the stage. Macfarlane, obviously upset by the delay and boos, ventured forth with an apology: “sorry for the wait. We’re going to make it up to you!” And with that, they launched into my absolute favourite track of theirs, ‘Lovesick’.

Anyone who wanted to dance at the sold-out venue (which I believe was the majority of gig-goers that night) had only one option: sway with the rest of the crowd, which resulted in a mass of bodies pulsating to the Fires’s beats. With so many people, it was really hot, and after just dancing to and reveling in one song, I think everyone in the club was just as sweaty as the guys onstage. Macfarlane’s arms glistened with sweat as he sang and exhibited his now legendary inexhaustible style of dancing. This was the first time I got to see their new single ‘Kiss of Life’ performed live, and wow, it was great. Macfarlane introduced it by saying they had to play it a couple times after false starts to their concertgoers in Toronto but frankly, I couldn’t fault them for the version I heard this night. Jack Savidge’s drumming, Edd Gibson’s wicked guitar solo, and Macfarlane’s sultry vocals combined to make this one hot song for the summer. Maybe if they play it live more often, it’ll be even better…

The night ended with their now-usual set ender, ‘Ex Lover’, but with a twist. Per usual, Gibson got his cordless vacuum out and was driving it along the fretboard of his guitar and making zoom-y noises with it. Then Macfarlane surprised me by all of a sudden grabbing the speaker directly in front of me and turning it towards us, causing the screaming sounds from all the instruments to seem even louder. Cranking it up to eleven. Yep, that’s what the Friendly Fires are all about.

I’d like to give mad props to Will and the other staff at LPR for keeping things under control outside the venue, especially as many, many people walked up to the door nonchalantly expecting to buy tickets and then were shocked and upset when they were turned away, or turned up late and tried to jump the queue. It could have turned ugly and it didn’t, and they did their job with smiles.

After the jump: Setlists and photos…

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Friendly Fires – Kiss of Life

Yes, I love Friendly Fires a bit too much. This is their new single, a sort of stop-gap between albums. It’s no “Jump in the Pool” or “Paris”, but it is amazing, and the colours on this video are just amazing – so vivid, so bright, just how they should be for FF. Watch and enjoy.

Now in its 7th year, Lovebox has firmly established itself as a key fixture of the London summer festivals. I was fortunate enough to be invited along to check out the first day of this year’s two day event, catching the likes of Dan Black, Frankmusik, Florence and the Machine and Friendly Fires.

After a hideously long journey, I only just made it in time to pick up my tickets, which meant that I’d missed such great bands as The Temper Trap, VV Brown, Rumble Strips and tommy Reilly, all of which I was quite keen to catch. Diving straight in with a trip to the Gaymers stage (or the “other” stage to you and I), I caught Dan Black.

I’ve been raving about Dan for a while now, really loving his unique, accessible electro-pop, so I was keen to finally catch him in the flesh. Ploughing through a tonne of material from his new album, ((un)), both him and the crowd really enjoyed his set, with most people knowing the words to the bigger tunes. After “Symphonies”, Dan joked “right, I’ve done something intellectual – now time for something for your inner thug!” before launching into “I Love Life”. Playfully batting a giant inflatable apple around the crowd, Dan finished his set with “Alone”, commenting that “normally people can’t clap in time to that – I guess you’ve all done music GCSE!”. Well received,

Next I took a trek over to the main stage to catch Florence and her Machine. In fine form, she was doing her usual trick of keeping the security on their toes, running down front of the crowd, and giving it her all. When the heavens opened, she was anything but dampened, if anything it just gave her more energy as the umbrellas came out.

Flitting back to the Gaymers stage, I caught Frankmusik who I last saw supporting Keane at the O2 in London back in February. He’s moved on a fair bit, more comfortable with his songs, more banter – even offering to re-create the video to “In Step” if anyone had a hula hoop he could borrow. Short and sweet, his tunes are perfect pop bliss – danceable yet still fairly intelligent, just how I like my music.

Gang of Four were up next, and frankly I wish I hadn’t stayed for them. A bunch of past-it oldies who think they are still cool led to 50 minutes of shambolic dad-rock. Definately the odd ones out of the festival.

Finally, Friendly Fires headlined the Gaymers stage. My plan was to catch Friendly Fires and then wander over to check out Duran Duran for their last hour. However, yet again Friendly Fires blew me away, with an amazing light show to boot. The crowd was much nicer than the Roundhouse one of a few days ago, lots of dancing and no moshing, which was appreciated by this ageing 21 year old! “Kiss of Life” sounds bigger each time I hear it live, however the highlights are undoubtably Paris and Jump in the Pool, and I think they will be for some time to come.

After closing with Ex-Lover, I dashed over to see Duran Duran. After a so-so rendition of “Ordinary World” that seemed to appeal to the fans of reminiscing, and a front-man that tries a bit too hard to be cool in the shape of Simon Le Bon, I called it a night and headed back to the tube.

After the jump: some setlists, some photos.

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Apple’s iTunes festival is now in its third year, each outing seeing it attracting bigger names at better venues. This year, they’ve filled 31 nights at the Roundhouse, and I caught the fifteenth night, with Friendly Fires and Magistrates. The best bit about the gigs? All the tickets are given away to competition winners, which makes everyone even more up for it than normal.

Magistrates, fresh from playing the NME Radar tour in May, opened things up, playing a captivating set that had everyone dancing and the first crowd surfers of the evening going over. After a short break, Friendly Fires came to a smoke filled set, blasting through their entire debut album and new single “Kiss of Life”.

Lead singer Ed Macfarlane was dripping in sweat from the first song, as he gave his best dad-dancing to the packed Roundhouse. However, they were clearly aware of the carnage in the pit, asking everyone to “just dance, none of this moshing” that had seen 20 crowd surfers flung over. Sounding as fresh as they did when I first saw them last August, it’s surprising considering just how hard they’ve been touring of late (and partying, if you believe The Sun).

Closing out with the customary extended version of “Ex-Lover”, all too soon they were done, and it was time to go, watching some very drunk Camden-ites air-drumming the finale.

After the jump: setlist and photos.
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