REVIEW: FAT FREDDY’S DROP AT BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY (08/10/12)
Fat Freddy’s Drop have been simmering among iPod playlists and casual conversations for a number of years, but it seems that this summer they’re boiling over into mass consciousness, spearheaded by a series of high-profile gigs and festival appearances.
Selling out the O2 Academy in Bristol at a weighty £22.50 per ticket, (including the upper floor, which wasn’t even opened when ‘The Wailers’ arrived in town recently!), it seems the New Zealand-based reggae band are certainly doing something right. Interestingly, their audience ranged vastly in age and stereotype; there seemed to be a universal quality that appealed to those present, including all from dreadlocked youths to silver-haired veterans.
Visually, Fat Freddy’s Drop were certainly something to behold. At times seven-strong on stage, their dress ranged dramatically from person to person, highlights including a guy playing brass in a full, buttoned-up-to-the-collar tuxedo and his polar opposite, a character who danced animatedly in what appeared to be swim shorts and beachwear. Audibly they were similarly diverse, with their set more akin to one extended mix than to a series of defined tunes; sound would roll over the audience in a continual, ambient ebb, occasionally picking up increasing momentum and cresting into a song, like some type of organic, tidal force. Following the crescendo of a song, the noise would settle back down into an easy jam, before perhaps picking up again a few minutes later with a guitar solo or swell of the brass. It’s a unique approach to live music that was refreshingly unfamiliar, carrying with it a sense of freedom in their performance and a notion of musical ‘purity’.
Meandering between genres, the evening featured elements of bass-heavy dub, as well as detours into funk, house, and ‘ambience’. The band couldn’t really be defined by one overriding category; it’d probably be better to describe their sound as one that was infectious and expressive, lending itself especially well to the live format. Equally expressive, of particular note and unexpected by all was a frenetic, strobe-light enhanced dance solo by the animated fan-favourite, ‘Man in White’. Dressed in a vest and shorts, both of which were stretched around his comically portly stature, the erratic explosion of rhythm and energy he sprang under the dramatic, rave-esque lighting was an inspiringly enjoyable spectacle and a great turning point for the crowd, who lapped up the outlandish performers energy and bounced it back around the room twice over.
Ever-present across the night was a solid output of bass, at varying tempos, though equally hypnotic throughout. Combined with the medicinal tones of their vocalist, Fat Freddy’s Drop proved a very easy listen. Raising a smile in me and many others, their inventive, live use of looping equipment raised the novelty of their performance above its existing lofty peak, with one particularly well-crafted performance featuring an intro of perhaps ten or so carefully-orchestrated minutes!
The night quickly passed and, obliging the audience’s rowdy cheers with a welcome encore, Fat Freddy’s Drop ended on a note more reggae-skewed than many of their previous jams, erupting the eager Bristol crowd into a lively bounce and skank to close the night. Original, dynamic and genuinely musical in their live performance, their boiling over into mass consciousness seems not only inevitable but deserved.
Words: Darren Paul Thompson
Photo: Phil West
