Originally published at Middle Boop Mag: http://www.middleboopmag.com/music/live/live-bombay-bicycle-club-o2-academy-bristol-12th-march-2014
Bombay Bicycle Club are our very own home grown, quintessential indie band. The fresh faced poster children of their generation – but can their fourth album in four years, a fast turnover for any band, do enough to keep us interested?
BBC dove in with their game changing debut record (I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose) back in 2010, followed it with a folk-acoustic offering (Flaws), dabbled in art-rock shoegaze (A Different Kind Of Fix) and have now added beats and loops on their current album So Long See You Tomorrow. They have fearlessly done the unthinkable – considerably reinventing their sound with each album, pleasing current fans and keeping them thoroughly refreshed, whilst attracting new ones in their droves.
Their fantastic new album has finally taken the idiosyncratic North London foursome to the lofty heights of the number one spot, which is surprisingly their first. What an achievement - the entire LP was also their first to have been entirely self-produced– promising wholly raw talent and hopeful longevity for this superb band, without needing to hide in the shadows of impressive producers.
Most bands are either loved for their ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ music, it’s not often that a band can receive equally strong reactions live to these opposite ends of the spectrum. Their live show did just that, sweeping us up in the dizzy euphoria of ‘Carry Me’, back down to the bashful heartache of‘What If’.
Having spent the last year travelling Turkey, India and Asia, Front man Jack Steadman is said to have drawn the exotic influences on the record from these travels, finding not only himself – but the true essence of the band, as trite as that sounds. ‘Feel’, another gem from their latest record was an amazing moment live, and gauging the crowds response to this unusual swerve in sound – it seems these risks have well and truly paid off.
Their performance was a whirlwind or colour and noise through their impressive back catalogue, mixing the old with the new, cherry picking from the best with no vanity filler ballads or boring, overly long instrumentals. The audience was excitable and completely consumed throughout.
They have in the past, (and still to this day) been criticised for lacking an identity. But does having a number one album suddenly mean that they should start smashing up their guitars and making grandiose statements about the state of ‘modern music’ during their live shows now? They are a band of few words, with art and craft at the forefront of their imaginations.
