Friendly Fires warm up a cold Melbourne night

Dance-punk band Friendly Fires journeyed back to Australia for the second time this year, in honour of the Splendour in the Grass festival and showcasing their dazzling sophomore album ‘Pala’. Playing in Melbourne on Friday July 29^th 2011 , one of two Splendour sideshows on their Australian tour, the fans of Friendly Fires were ready to see Ed Macfarlane’s famous dance moves and dance their hearts out to the new album ‘Pala’ as well as old favourites from their self-titled debut album. Billboard The Venue was warmed up by New Zealand band Cut Off Your Hands, treated to their indie pop offerings from their albums ‘You & I’ and ‘Hollow’.

The band everyone was eagerly anticipating soon stepped onto the stage with rapturous applause and screams. Macfarlane appeared in his zoologically-inspired Hawaiian shirt, previously seen at the band’s recent appearance at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival, and seemed to be quite overwhelmed at just how many people were present in this tiny nightclub to see him and the band perform.

Not one to delay, the band launched into the wondrous beats of ‘Lovesick’ and Macfarlane himself burst into life, almost as if he had received an electric shock throughout his entire body, determined to make everybody else ‘Lovesick’ with the beats emanating from band. Following on with new hits ‘Blue Cassette’ and pleading with crowd convincing us that all he wants “is to feel true love” with the song ‘True Love’, Macfarlane danced his way across the stage whilst guitarist Edd Gibson and drummer Jack Savidge absorbed the crowd’s energy and had beaming smiles across their faces throughout the entire night.

The thumping basslines of ‘On Board’ instantly gave the venue a much darker, grittier atmosphere and as Savidge came out from behind the drum kit to join Gibson on the microphone, Macfarlane launched himself into the crowd to form his own little dance party in the moshpit. The band is currently touring with a number of backing musicians, most notably a horn section which injects life into songs such as ‘Skeleton Boy’ and ‘Live Those Days Tonight’ and really help to show off brilliant songs from both albums. Gibson made sure to make use of the entire stage, continually smiling at the crowd and having a genuinely good time with everybody dancing, singing and partying along, song after song.

Macfarlane never lost any momentum either, grooving along and showing everybody just what he is renowned for, during the entire set. Churning out more songs from both albums, from the frenetic beats of ‘Jump In The Pool’, the synth-infused ‘Hurting’ to the romanticism of ‘Paris’, the dancing never stopped. The band took a short break before returning for an encore performance featuring ‘Hawaiian Air’ and ‘Kiss of Life’ which was remixed into a 15-minute-long rave, which topped the night off on an explosive high. If you need a band to make you lovesick, Friendly Fires will do it with ease. (Joy)