Bombay Bicycle Club Live Review: written for Sound Magazine

Sunday 16/10/2011 - Southampton Guildhall




Bombay Bicycle Club are an indie/folk/acoustic sensation from London.  They’ve won the hearts of millions with their wonderfully eclectic and heart felt music.  They met at School at the age of 15 and have been making beautiful music ever since.

Four years, three albums and ten singles later they are now touring with their third album:  A Different Kind Of Fix.  After playing all the major festivals this year including Glastonbury these boys are absolutely killing it, being named by NME “The hottest band to come from London for quite some time.”

There was mass hysteria at the Guildhall as excited fans queued in their hundreds.   Supporting was Lucy Rose who played a quaint yet beautiful set, even admitting that she has never played to such a big audience.   Lucy, who has sung backing vocals on their second album Flaws and their new album is currently working on her  own solo career and has recently released two singles: Middle of the bed and Scar which have both received huge support from Radio One.

Dry the River, a fleet foxes- esque band, also supported.  They played with such passion; alt rock meets gospel and even a violin thrown into the mix playing a hell of a set.  I was eager to look them up when I got home, which is surely the whole point of a support act.

Bombay opened with Shuffle, a single from their third album; it was received by the crowd as if it were a classic, which is impressive for a song that was released only a couple of months ago.  They merged all the crowd pleasers such as the massive Dust on the Ground, Open house, (which they haven’t played in years) Magnet and Lamplight with new album tracks which kept the crowd involved.

They sailed through tracks, constantly swapping from electric to acoustic guitars. Their diversity not only kept things interesting, but was admirable, their lyrics are bottled vulnerability and innocence that just can’t be faked or manufactured, that’s why their unusual juxtapositions of musical genres works so well.

For The Giantess, a track from their first album, Dry the River and Lucy Rose came out and joined them.  They left the stage and the crowd started chanting in unison, B.B.C, B.B.C, everyone was stamping their feet and the building was shaking.  Of course, they came out for an encore, they played Flaws the title track from their 2^nd album, Lead singer Jack played Piano and Lucy Rose sang with her eerie but beautifully soft voice. 

They finished with What If, my personal favourite from their debut.  They really throw themselves into their music and performances, and I can honestly say they are one of the best live acts I have seen for a very long time.

Written by Catherine Elliott