Fanfarlo & Freelance Whales @ Triple Rock Social Club
When bands have a debut record as dramatic and far reaching as Fanfarlo’s excellent Reservoir, you are always at risk for a letdown when you see the songs performed in the live setting. Luckily for the surprisingly full Triple Rock Social Club Wednesday night, Fanfarlo met and exceed any expectations with a thrilling 50 minute set.
After opening their set with a stripped down take on “Drowning Men,” featuring only front man Simon Balthazar, violinist Cathy Lucas, and drummer Amos Memon, the rest of the six-piece band sauntered on stage and kicked off the night’s moving and dramatic performance. Starting with a boisterous rendition of “I’m a Pilot,” the band eventually played eight songs from Reservoir and threw in some new songs for good measure. The set was exceptionally strong from start to finish, but the highlight for me was a crushing version of the anthemic “The Walls Are Coming Down,” which soared and swelled with all six members building the music up and adding their voices, even if not into microphones, to the excellent chorus. The group’s music is delicate but still has a forceful punch to it, especially in the live setting, and the set ended with their Arcade Fire-like driving “Luna,” and left the stage to a rapturous applause.
Returning in short order, the band ended the night with the Reservoir gem “Ghost” before leaving their bevy of instruments on the stage one last time as an appreciative crowd gave the band one more well deserved ovation. Dressed in their old time-y digs and bathed in a string of lights which hung behind the stage, the young band seemed to hit nearly every mark throughout the night. The songs sounded fleshed out and vibrant live and the amazing textures and arrangements that make Reservoir so good really came to light in the live setting. While I was high on the band when I first heard their debut record, their great live show only makes me even more excited about them. The show reminded me of seeing Beirut at the Triple Rock a few years back shortly after Gulag Orkestar came out. The sound coming from the stage did not mesh with the young people producing it and with each show I got a strong inclination that I wouldn’t be seeing the band in such an intimate setting ever again. We all know Zach Condon and gang did well for themselves (even if they still haven’t come back) and I imagine Fanfarlo will be playing to even bigger and more receptive audiences in the very near future.
Openers Freelance Whales sounded as if Sufjan Stevens wrote the music for a more twee version of Arcade Fire. While their set was overshadowed by Fanfarlo’s later in the evening, they had some strong moments and it will be worth keeping an eye out for their debut record, which will becoming out early next year.
Nice write up and vids, Josh. It really was a spirited (but all too brief) set by the young band. They are indeed a bit wet behind the ears, and their performance reflected a bit of that, but once they learn how to command a room and breathe even more life into their wonderful songs, they will certainly find a larger audience.
I have to say I preferred their set to Dirty Projectors earlier that evening, and that’s saying something.
Nice review, enjoyed their set. My expectations were set high going in (probably too high for a young band), was hoping to hear some of the early Belle and Sebastian originality and brilliance, just wasn’t there for me.
Too many songs from their brief set with similar structure:
Start slow, build, build, build, final crescendo.
At this point in their early career not as good live as either UK bands Noah and the Whale or The Rumble Strips, but plenty of career time ahead of them if they play their cards right.