REVIEW: NOAH AND THE WHALE AT BRISTOL COLSTON HALL (31/10/11)
You would have thought Bristolians might be a bit bored of Noah and the Whale by now – but no, apparently not. This is the band’s third sell out gig in Bristol this year seeing them move from their regular haunt, the Thekla, to the Trinity Centre and now the grand surroundings of the Colston Hall. Though judging by their latest gig, they’re not attracting the same crowd they were a year ago. Gone are the old nu-folk fans, while hoards of teeny boppers and their parents embrace their more mainstream appeal. Falling into the former category, I fear my love affair with NATW may just be over. And not because I’m a musical snob, because they’ve lost their substance. Mumford and Sons all over again.
Granted, Noah and the Whale started out poppy – finding success with their catchy love song Five Years, but then they proved their worth as a serious musical proposition with their second album First Days Of Spring before clambering out of the considered melancholy which sparked such wonderful songs and blasting into the charts with Last Night On Earth. And it is this album which dominated the set. Even when they played songs of their older albums they added a sprinkling of Last Night On Earth to them, jazzing up songs like Five Years, which becomes a caricature of itself.
Perhaps frontman Charlie Fink has been watching too much X Factor or something, cos he’s developed this Cher Lloyd type snarl, which he uses to spit out the lyrics to what should be soft, inoffensive indie pop like set opener Give A Little Love. It’s not until a few songs in that they really find their stride, with the newish song Give It All Back. But there’s a distinctive air of forced writing here, writing a song to pander to the teeny boppers who effectively pay the bands wages now – with mentions of bedrooms, parents and school assembly. Still, it’s a pretty good tune and well performed by the motley bunch, three dappa lookin fellas and a couple of more down to earth folk who wouldn’t be out of place in Midlake. This paves way for a couple of songs from the first album, Shape of My Heart and Rocks and Daggers which teases with a sniff of substance, lacking from elsewhere in the set. The furiously folky, slow-burning ballad proves the highlight of the set for the long-term fans and secures the second biggest cheer of the night.
After ‘treating’ us to a local ghost story, Fink concedes the set is a divided one and introduces the ‘romantic’ section of the gig with the usually excellent Our Window. Opening line: ‘Well it’s four in the morning, and things are getting heavy, and we both know it’s over, but we both are not ready…’ That’s some fucked up romanticism! The massive Mondrian-style backdrop takes on the form of a window with stars behind it to compliment the lyrics, which works well. What doesn’t work is all the new fans, choosing this understated melancholic song to have a natter.
A worrying number of Noah and the Whale songs leave you thinking you’ve heard them before, like years ago, be it Life Is Life with its Whitney Houston ‘Your Love Is My Love’ style chorus or The Kinks Lola esque (esque is very much giving NATW the benefit of the doubt) intro to L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. which they end the set with, unsurprisingly. This Bristol date was the last of their UK tour (they’re off to conquer the States next and if Mumford and Sons are anything to go by, they might just do it) and you got the impression they wanted to go out with a bang…perhaps they should’ve gone for Fireworks Day then, instead of Halloween then.
Words and photo: Laura Williams
