June 24, 2008
The Futureheads
NY2LON Live Reviewby SP from WO
Never can the adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" be more accurately applied than with The Futureheads recent (and lengthy) absence from the US. I, not so fondly, recall when they were supposed to play Bowery Ballroom not one, but two Septembers ago, and oh how my heart broke when they canceled and never rescheduled that gig. But within their nearly two year absence, The Futureheads' have released News and Tributes along with their junior effort, This Is Not the World. Unfortunately, as noted above, they never toured (over here at least) to support News and Tributes. Thankfully, I do not think the same will be said for their more recent release as, much to my great pleasure they came over to New York for two, one off gigs (one was a secret, shhhhh).
I had the privilege of attending both shows, but I am here to talk about their more intimate gig at Pianos as part of BrooklynVegan's Rock n ROFL. The small space made for an intimate setting that allowed for quite humorous crowd and band banter all throughout the night. This Is Not the World had an absolute monopoly on the setlist both at their Bowery and Pianos gigs. As this new album is probably the best album released in all of 2008 (yes, I'm not even waiting for December to call it), I was extremely pleased by their choice of songs for the evening(s). Starting off with "The Beginning of the Twist" set the mood for a raucous evening of mild to not so mild pogo-ing. I was mildly heartbroken when I did not hear my favorite, and sexiest Futureheads' song to date, "Sale of the Century." But to be fair, every single track off of This Is Not the World are absolutely outstanding so the songs we were greeted with were an absolute treat!
Since T.I.N.T.W. is absolutely taking over, some of the other songs from The Futureheads' catalogue were left out. I believe only once did a song from News and Tributes make an appearance and that was their single, "Skip to the End." The last half of the set was fairly geared towards their self-titled debut and they played the songs they knew we wanted to hear, such as my favorite "Carnival Kids" and the "oh, oh, oh-ing" goodness of "Hounds of Love." While The Futureheads' absence did make my heart grow fonder, I thankfully will not have to wait as long to see them again as they are planning on returning to the States in September!
Posted by ny2lon at June 24, 2008 10:37 AM
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