The Polyphonic Spree - London Shepherd's Bush Empire - 27/10/02
4/5
By: Toby L
A gathering of characters that have set the music-world alight in just a matter of months, tonight's sell-out performance at the London Shepherd's Bush Empire is a fitting, moving achievement - a true celebration in the PS-scheme of things - and marks 100 minutes of grandiose, rejoicing merriment.
So, quite where The Polyphonic Spree continue to travel next is still a mystery (as is who actually picks up the bill for such movement-costs, anyway), but with frontman Tim DeLaughter consistently fronting shows with his beyond-20-members on back-up to earth-shatteringly feel-good peaks, the present is all that counts when viewing these guys in concert.
With support from rising indie-pop purveyors Athlete setting the tone for the jilted-alt musical-variety, only unfeasibly eclectic offerings from DJs Steve Mackey and Jarvis Cocker from Pulp can further exasperate anticipation for the main-event. And when the lights dim, the crowd roars and the backdrop unravels, the excitement is impenetrable. Out they march, clinging to their designated performance-space with faithful aptitude, and trailing behind arrives DeLaughter, smiling jovially like a school-caretaker that's just received a good-will Christmas-present from the playground's biggest trouble-maker. Before any proceedings are set underway, he greets and thanks us for our attendance, and the sound of thousands of hearts melting proves deafening.
Almost deafening in fact as the mighty swath of choral-chants and sweeping instruments that douse the opener 'Have A Day' in true, gigantically-proportioned Broadway style, the following 'It's The Sun' so unashamedly soaring that you're either witnessing the sprightly showmanship with a wide-open mouth, or busy fetching the Kleenex to avoid obtaining tearful, red eyes.
The following hour continues like-wise, the ensemble ploughing through almost every composition from their debut-LP 'The Beginning Stages Of...', and even showing off a newie that blends Mercury Rev with big-band brass to blurt the defining line, 'You've gotta be good/You've gotta be strong/You've gotta be 2,000 places at once...' (Easier for them to say, at least, what with the number of people within their posse). But the highlight comes mid-set - the prior-DJing Jarvis joining the 'Spree's choir to sing on rapturously-taken singles 'Hanging Around' (designated a top-40 hit just today, incidentally) and 'Soldier Girl', with a mighty reprise of '... Sun' prior to an encore of Bowie's 'Five Years' granting standing-ovations in the balconies, and multitudes of waving-arms in the standing-pit.
So, clearly, the disease of enchantment inspired during The Polyphonics' original appearance on UK-soil all the way back in the summer continues to be the most contagious and wildly received all round. The moment when their joy isn't so sorely needed as now will be a bleak time for humanity.
Artists in this article: The Polyphonic Spree
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