Review of Wild Beasts at Heineken Green Sphere in The Academy on December 3rd 2011
Review: David Dooley
Photos: Aaron Corr
Wild Beasts occupy an unusual space in modern music. On the one hand their music is challenging, interesting whilst working with song structures that are beyond a lot of their contemporaries. At the same time however a large portion of their songs are about sexuality, something not so common in alternative music. Singing about sex is usually confined to pop music from the like of Rihanna & her contemporaries, and has all the subtleties of a brick going through a window. Whilst Rihanna belts out ‘Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it’, Kings of Leon wail that ‘Your sex is on fire’ Wild Beasts take a less direct approach with the likes of ‘I take you in the mouth like a lion takes it’s game’. Their delivery is masked by counter tenor, Hayden Thorpe’s phenomenal vocal range. It’s a rare delight to see a performer with such an incredible range in a venue such as the Academy and not being kept to the likes of the National Concert Hall or the Grand Canal Theatre.
The lighting show is put to good use and does a lot to mirror what Wild Beasts have become after the release of their critically acclaimed latest album ‘Smother’. There is restraint, confidence and effectiveness. The frantic yelps from flamboyant début album ‘Limbo, Panto’ have been tamed which makes for songs that play out with some restraint and build naturally. Songs that gradually reveal nuances whilst reaching stunning peaks that may not be as frantic as those from their earlier work but are stunning nonetheless.
The band have no problem pulling back to let the devil run rampant in the detailed, flourishes of their sound. The focus on delivery tonight becomes clear when singer/guitarist Tom Fleming points out how unnerving it is to perform when within his eye line is a screen broadcasting the performance. The majority of the show is performed with the bands stark outlines cutting through the on stage mist. It leaves the audience free to fully absorb the complex rhythms, the shifting vocal ranges and the textural guitars. When it finally lifts for the rousing ‘Hooting and Howling’ it makes the delivery all the more spectacular.
