Having been unable to make it to
Latitude festival, my Bastille Day was spent travelling to Brighton to see Wild
Beasts play a warm-up show at The Haunt in preparation for their headline slot
the next day. I had no idea what the venue would be like - Google Maps didn’t
even want to show me where it was – but when I did eventually find it I was
thoroughly impressed. Despite the slightly awkward seating area, the space was
intimate without being claustrophobic, and my first thought upon entering was
HOLY COW THERES NO BARRIER WE CAN GO STAND RIGHT. IN. FRONT. OF. THE. STAGE.
I had just about become
accustomed to this fact when Luke Sital-Singh shuffled on stage, bringing with
him a soothing selection of semi-acoustic ditties driven by a strong vocal,
arguably his best weapon. He was also armed with a sense of humour (recalling
how a reviewer thought one of his songs was about having sex with a whale) and
good looks (acknowledged by Tom Fleming later on) and I hope that he gets the
attention that his music deserves. Incidentally, if you visit his website you
can get a free download of ‘Fail For You’ and who can say no to a great free
song?
It was soon time for the first
strains of Smother’s ‘Burning’ to
radiate through the room, a perfect teaser for the crowd and an indicator of
where Wild Beasts are at right now: sparse, electronic, yet tugging at the
heartstrings more than ever. The band arrived and launched straight into ‘Lion’s
Share’, promoted from its usual position of encore-opener. The bass frequencies
pulsated like a second heartbeat, and this façade was kept up by the thudding
drums of Chris Talbot, joined by Sky Larkin’s Katie Harkin, now a long-time
companion to the Wild Beasts live set-up. Their first album Limbo, Panto has largely been left
behind now but despite this, fan favourite ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ does not feel
out of place at all, providing a light interlude between ‘Albatross’ and ‘Fun
Powder Plot’.
Via the emotionally charged ‘Loop
the Loop’ and the yearning ‘This Is Our Lot’, the main set was concluded with
‘Reach A Bit Further’, a particularly satisfying marriage of Hayden Thorpe’s
scintillating falsetto and Tom Fleming’s grittier tones communicating pleas
rewarded with promises. In the break between the main set and the encore a Wild
Beasts chant filled the air which was extremely well-received. “I’ve never
heard a Wild Beasts chant before,” Hayden cheerfully acknowledged, before
adding “Needless to say, I fucking loved it.” Even a microphone malfunction
during Hooting and Howling couldn’t ruin the buoyant mood and by the time End
Come Too Soon rolled around, we were not yet reconciled to our inevitable fate.
It really is a stunning closer, both on Smother
and live; out of nowhere and virtually from scratch the band build to a devastating crescendo
capped off by the echoes of Thorpe’s mournful cries. Apart from a scattering of
festivals, Wild Beasts are taking it easy at the moment and will soon start
thinking about LP number 4. On the evidence of this show, we have much to look
forward to.
