30 November 2006

If you know this website, you know of The Frames, and if you don’t, here’s some pointers: The criteria for loving the Frames can be whittled down to you possessing two little things: A heart and ears. Check, well hell kid, come on in and enjoy the show…

Catherine Feeney opened the evening with a reassuring blend of acoustic and electric tones over some wonderful melodies. She shows real promise in the few songs she had to showcase, including the memorable opener, ‘Touch Back Down’, ‘Mr Blue,’ and the final flourish of ‘Hurricane Glass’ which left the audience wanting more. I nearly want it now. And that ‘nearly’ is not meant in a negative way, you have to remember who we have all come to see tonight…

In this age when male singer/songwriter pap is flooding the airwaves and taking over the charts (James Blunt, Paolo Nutini, James Morrison et al) it’s refreshing to see another woman breathe honesty, sincerity and individuality into her music. What with Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor and Martha Wainwright to name a few, it seems that the sisters are indeed doing it for themselves while the boys, shall we say, are a little less precious about their integrity. Catherine Feeney will build herself a sound following if she carries on in this form and I am pretty sure this young American lady is not all to fussed about fame, fortune and chart positions; she’s is all the better for it.

Now the Frames are a band full of surprises. They surprise every person who sees them; those who have seen them before wonder how they can be so amazed again, and those Frames virgins just have no idea what is in store. But enough of that, to the music!

The opener is a surprise. ‘Turbit,’ is a beautiful instrumental introduction to the evening, with the band just finding their rhythm and giving knowing glances that this is going to be a good show, although the ‘London fairies’, as Glen calls them will try their best to sabotage the evening. It’s wasn’t long before Glen announced the wonderful ‘Keepsake’ from BURN THE MAPS as the first vocal song, and as unusual an opening as this seems, they just make it so perfect. The tune floats around the room building; gripping onto every person; and carrying us all away in a whirlwind of sound. It feels like we’re home and it felt safe to be back with friends again. The Frames just make you feel that way.

Next up was ‘Rise’, which I personally prefer when Glen does solo, however, in this live arena it became a great journey from the beautiful delicate opening into a colossus of a rock anthem that just perforated every pore in your body. ‘Finally’ soon soared in and despite the ‘fairies’ first appearance to prevent the magic from dripping from Colm’s violin, and Glen stopping to try and rectify the problem, they make it through and by the end were all back in fine working, harmonious order.

They turn to the older and wiser ‘God Bless Mum’ next and this started something that I only realised in retrospect. All the songs, old and new, slow and not so slow, anthemic and personal, just fitted together perfectly. It feels like a greatest hits set even though 8 of the songs have only been available for a couple of months. You always remember a Frames song, be it a lyric, a riff or a spine tingling violin solo; they are all old friends that you have been waiting a lifetime to meet.

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‘Falling Slowly’ came next, followed swiftly by the classic ‘Seven Day Mile’ and then the new ‘Song For Someone.’ The music just flowed from one to the other with Glen letting us in on some secrets and introducing the songs with tales of their realisation, and new takes on them that not only open up a new perspective but are in keeping with songs that are timeless, but somehow feel fresh. The whole show felt alive with new ideas and the sense of a band so self-confident; so aware of their strengths; and so in love with their music. They give what they want, they aspire to be just exactly who they are and in the place they are at that very moment. I didn’t want to be anywhere else for those couple of hours, but more importantly I don’t think the band did either.

Now things explode. For the uninitiated, there are a few live experiences in music that will never tire; that every time you catch that moment you want it again; and the second it ends you just yearn for it all over again. It has hit me every time I’ve seen the Frames and I think it probably always will. One word –‘Revelate’. It’s a gargantuan monster of a song; the most electrifying ‘hello’ of any song in the live arena. It just ties its tonsils around your ears and hurls you into one pulsating spitball of frenzied hysteria until you catch your breath just in time to vent your soul with Glen, and yell out “Sometimes I need a revelation, sometimes it’s all to much to take!”. It’s messy, it’s noisy, it’s so damn loud, it’s absolutely perfect. But we are only midway through the set. I prayed they haven’t peaked… But of course they hadn’t, forgive my ignorance and forgetfulness of how strong their back catalogue is and how perfectly in tune and on form the band are.

After the comedown, they fly into ‘Fake’, my personal highlight from BURN THE MAPS and a song which I heard live three times before hearing the recorded version, and loved it right from the first time. We were then treated to three songs from THE COST, concluding with ‘People Get Ready’, introduced by Glen as a bit of a lie with the first line of the chorus, “We have all the time in the world to get it right”, not actually being true anymore. This in light of Al Gore’s ‘The Inconvenient Truth’ having scared the shit out of Glen at the prospect of a world we can no longer fix. This takes us into the break which we all pray is a very short respite before the impending encore. This song selection really does showcase the consistent strength of the Frames over a ten-year period that few artists are able to match. I cannot think of another band in the world that would end the main set with three brand new songs and leave with a crowd as frenzied as this. There are normally rules about ending on a big one and then this builds up the crowd for the encore. But with ‘Revelate’ coming so early the band were clearly confident of the live impact of their new material (and rightly so) as the crowd predictably uplifted, and on a wave of emotion, demand their return.

Glen reappears with an unplugged acoustic and stands front of stage, the wrong side of the microphones and announces that as the ‘fairies’ have taken over the electrics he is going to do one without. So here we had one man, one guitar and suddenly from a mass of hysteria we had silence, the eye of the storm had arrived. Amazingly it is at this point that Glen plays ‘Leave’, a song from his solo THE SWELL SEASON album with Marketa Irglova. He started strumming and singing, totally unplugged leaning over the audience to project himself to those right at the back. By the time we reached the first chorus, every person was helping him out.

The band rejoin him and the last new song of the evening, ‘The Cost’, comes, was wonderful and departs. ‘Santa Maria’ is as breathtaking as ever and ends in absolute chaos, of the organised variety of course. ‘Pavement Tune’ took us ever nearer to the curfew, and of course as always the band were made fully aware of this by the venue management. There was so much left to play but time has beaten us again, you don’t feel short changed though. The band huddled for a quick chat and then gave us one more. But surely with ‘Star Star’ they were spoiling us. We all sang, we all smiled, and the song fades away for Glen and Joel to harmonise as they always do. Then Glen and Rob harmonise as they never do. Then it’s all over. I see from the set-list we have been deprived of ‘Fitzcarraldo’ by the ‘fairies’ and time. But it didn’t really matter because it was an amazing show, the best I have ever seen them. They are truly a band in absolute harmony with their music, their fans and themselves. And I am left with what I think sums up the experience of sharing an evening with the Frames best - I just can’t wait to see them again.