I was so excited for this gig, that I was initially a little bit concerned when the opening couple of songs didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s always a good decision to open a set with a song as good as ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, but on that track and ‘I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying’ the sound wasn’t quite where it needed to be, and the crowd hadn’t got going in the way we’d hoped for. By ‘Broken Biscuits’, though, the levels improved, the band got thoroughly into their groove, and the majority of the audience realised how lucky they were to be seeing this incredible act in such a tiny venue. That might never happen again. ‘Broken Biscuits’ saw Lily Fontaine move to the back of the stage to play the keys for the first time, and while that denied us short people a good view of her performance, it was also the first glimmer of how dynamic and engaging she is on stage.
Fontaine introduced ‘Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space’ as their ‘political song’ for the ‘woke among you’, which I think does a disservice to their other political songs for the woke among us. It was, nevertheless, an absolutely captivating rendition of one of the many album highlights. Any concerns about how good this gig would be were firmly put to rest. It did take a cover of ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ to get the enraptured crowd moving in the way the music demanded they should, but by the time they played the outstanding double hitter of ‘Nearly Daffodils’ and ‘R&B’ it felt like the walls in Gorilla were shaking. I haven’t seen a crowd having that much fun in a long time.
What really impressed and surprised me about this show, though, was the performance of some of the slower songs. Having caught English Teacher at a couple of festivals, and having listened to their debut on repeat since release, I have kind of pigeonholed them as a lively, punchy post-punk band whose main hits are those that some would describe as ‘bangers’. I love the whole album, but whenever I listen I am largely looking forward to ‘R&B’ and ‘Nearly Daffodils’. But on stage at Gorilla, the two absolute standout moments for me were ‘You Blister My Paint’ and ‘The Best Tears of Your Life.’ Both showed another side to Fontaine’s stage presence, demonstrating that she can be emotional and engaging just as well as she can thrash around the stage. These songs also made me realise how good a singer she really is.
The whole band shine on stage, though. The riffs hit perfectly, the drums shake the room, and the bass gets everyone dancing in the end. But it is Fontaine that really makes you think this band are destined to be absolutely huge. She has that effortless persona when performing live, seeming endlessly confident but also humble and amazed to see the reaction to her songs – getting the crowd going whenever she senses a lull, letting herself be vulnerable by discussing her anxiety before ‘Mastermind Specialism’. She has it all. If she keeps this up throughout their career, and if the band always perform how they did at Gorilla, we are looking at future award winners and festival headliners. Mark my words.
It’s unfortunate that I do have to end this review with a bit of a moan, but it’s definitely not about the band or their set. No. It’s about those perennial dickheads who stand at the back of the room chatting loudly throughout the whole of a gig. Why? Luckily for me, I was far enough away from them that the band drowned out a lot of their inane bollocks, but whenever there was a quiet moment there were the same three or four blokes talking about whatever shit they were spouting. Nobody wants you there, lads. It’s disrespectful to the people who’ve paid for a ticket, it’s disrespectful to the band, and it was particularly disrespectful to Fontaine on a couple of occasions here. As she opened up about the meaning of some of her songs, there they were – chatting bollocks.
Anyway, rant over. I don’t want that paragraph to take away from just how good English Teacher were, so I will end by repeating something I have said several times already this year. English Teacher are the most exciting band on the planet right now – and Friday night at Gorilla only amplified that belief. Bring on their November show at The Ritz (but let’s not tell the chatty bellends about it).
Picky Bastards 