Sometimes it can be hard to tell how much is the act an how much is the attitude. I like seeing bands relaxed and ready to perform… so long as they DO perform at some point. There seems to be a slight confusion over the indie image perhaps? …that whole hung loose grubby t-shirt look twinned with the disinterested expression, I don’t think it’ll ever get out of fashion, but when I sat through the Fontanelles, I couldn’t help wishing for a little charisma. I understand that if you’re a three piece you’ve got to stay tight and be relatively no frills, but I was getting no thrills either from a lack-lustre performance.
I can’t knock the music with its slick fusion of punchy indie/punk rock and roots blues soloing, but I can’t exactly get myself going over it either. A formula has crept in, and for such an early stage in the bands notoriety it seems a shame to set themselves in stone. I must have heard the same 2 bar blues-guitar break in half the songs played, and I couldn’t get over the sensation I’d paid to watch them rehearse. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether it’s just nerves or complacency that causes the rift between the audience and the performance, but in this case I got a real sense that the band’s been all over Europe for the tour, and London is the last place they want to be.
Maybe it was the energy given by the warm up act that left me disappointed at the headliners half-hearted entrance… maybe it was their infuriating desire to stare ceaselessly at their instruments as if the crowd didn’t exist, but one way or the other it just wasn’t happening for the Fontanelles that night. London is a hard crowd to please, but no excuses for this I’m afraid. I recommend you check out the album, but unless you’re at a loose end I’d think twice about spending your hard earned on a live performance.
The Fontanelles official website
The Fontanelles on myspace
