Live: Fanfarlo, First Aid Kit – Brighton Hanbury Ballroom – 08/10/09

words: Jamie Milton
originally scribed for gigwise

They called it an ‘Indian Summer’, and we knew it was coming. It seems very boring to start a review with the weather situation but it did seem to dictate the days of everyone who eventually made it to the Hanbury Ballroom by 9 in the evening. What had preceded was a monsoon of sorts – rain, not just rain in fact: sheets of water coming down from the skies, constant, merciless. When you experience a long, dry summer it’s always nice when rain first arrives but by the time the day filtered out, life was pretty miserable. And so it seems particularly apt that once dry, covered and free from the onslaught, the gig-goer is welcomed by two of the most warm-sounding, wholesome acts around today, rousing enough to help you forget about the damp smell tightly wrapped around everyone’s clothes.

An annoyingly dry looking pairing of Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit, commence proceedings with just a single acoustic guitar accompanied with the kind of whimsy, perfectly-tuned vocal harmonies you’d expect from those related by blood. Their relationship is a little too intimate at times; on stage banter drifting off for those watching, but still clearly leaving a whole lot to talk about for Klara & Johanna Söderberg. Their set, albeit limited due to the lack of instruments onstage, is endearing, cuddly – just as good as a pair of warm tracksuit bottoms to put on after coming home drenched.

Fanfarlo begin minimally too.  A stripped-down performance of ‘Drowning Men’, with just three of the six members on stage, remains uplifting despite its lack of the uplifting, arm-in-arm grandiose  found on debut album ‘Reservoir’. Once fully-formed, Fanfarlo treat the busy crowd to an all-out rendition of said passion, intense but smile-inducing crescendos in ‘Finish Line’ and set highlight ‘The Walls Are Coming Down’. They manage to silence a rather talkative faction of onlookers who happened to put a slightly hindrance on First Aid Kit’s set.

But it’s only common sense to save the finest for the tail-end of the set. ‘Luna’ and ‘Ghosts’ – the closing pair – are the most energetic, fruitful tracks that ‘Reservoir’ offers, providing a refreshing get-up-and-dance aspect to the more static but triumphant bulk of the performance.

Once closed, the Hanbury Club only offers you the exit door, for which the rain awaits to plummet itself down on you more more. But the occasion gives you this false sense of bravery, prepared for anything. In reality, you’re back to being soggy and hopeless within ten seconds of leaving, but the memory of such a balmy night in the company of First Aid Kit and Fanfarlo is a comfort.

mp3:   Fanfarlo – Luna

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