Fleet Foxes - The Roundhouse, London - 24/2/09
5/5
By: Hayley Leaver
The anticipatory buzz enveloping Camden's Roundhouse can only be heightened by the momentary mildness on this February evening, but it's a bunch of bearded folksters that are causing the entirely un-British atmosphere.
On the sold out finale of a three day residency at one of the best venues London has to offer, the only support, Vetiver, are well on their way to winning over ears and hearts. Certainly not the bunch of beards the crowd have gathered for, but their super-sweet psych-folk is the ideal warm up for tonight's headliners.
Despite this being the finale in a three day extravaganza of packing the Roundhouse out to the rafters, Fleet Foxes amble onstage to such a deafening applause it begs the question: who said folk was out this year?
Robin Pecknold throws a blanket of silence out over the audience with a voice that grabs the heart even tighter then the record could ever manage. "What a life I lead in the summer," oozes out in that unmistakeable harmony, but if it beats the one he's enjoying in this cold winter then we want in on it. Followed by album opener 'Sun It Rises', dreary Camden is instantly filled with the warmth of the West Coast, and this doesn't falter throughout the whole set.
Single 'Mykonos' could have very easily disappointed following its unprecedented success upon the re-release of EP Sun Giant, but if Robin and co. are letting the sudden popularity override their music, there's no sign of it here. As he takes to the front of the stage with nothing but his acoustic guitar, the crowd seem to hold their breath so as not to disturb Robin's impeccably haunting cover of 'My Only Son', originally by Duncan Brown.
In between songs, the band jump from their dark, soul wrenching lyrics into witty chat, laughing with the crowd and even passing out a disposable camera which - incredibly - they get back, intact.
The unplugged encore is nothing short of euphoric - dangerously close to inducing some sort of mass hand holding. As Robin covers traditional song 'Katie Cruel', alone except for his acoustic guitar once again, the silence seems to deepen into an almost sanctified state. Closing with the powerful 'Blue Ridge Mountains', the final harmony asks "Terrible am I child?" - and the rapturous applause provides as good an answer as any.
Ignoring the 'Album of the Year' label that's been mentioned more then a the words "credit" and "crunch" over the last twelve months, underneath all the hype lies simply stunning music. Tonight, Fleet Foxes drifted a few hundred people out of miserable London and dropped them around a campfire; marshmallows a-toastin' and goosebumps aplenty.
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