The Front Bottoms/Kevin Devine and The Goddamn Band (Concorde 2, 13.02.16)

I've waxed lyrical about Kevin Devine on this blog before, but this was the first time that I'd seen him perform with The Goddamn Band. As I suspected, he's equally at ease at being a rock frontman as he is as an acoustic troubadour. This was a set that grabbed the attention from the get go, as the punkish "Bubblegum" and pop infused "Little Bulldozer" showcased the band's versatility.  Ending with a superb, loud, emotive rendition of "Brother's Blood", this was the most impressive support set I've seen in a long time. I should have the vinyl release of last years St Pancras Church shows soon and I'm very much looking forward to it.

The Front Bottoms were given a hero's welcome by a sold out Brighton crowd but couldn't quite reach the heights of their support. It was still a fun show from the indie/pop-punk/disco categorisation nightmares. Their latest record "Back On Top" is arguably their finest effort to date but some of the new tracks struggled to translate to a live setting. The giant synth line of "HELP" was diminished to a quiet keyboard here, while "Laugh Til I Cry" seemed to lack its urgency on record.

There were joys to be had elsewhere though, particularly in the raw energy of "Be Nice To Me" and "Swimming Pool" from the band's early canon. Predictably, a few tracks from previous record "Talon Of The Hawk" were jettisoned to make room for new material, but fortunately the terrific "Skeleton" wasn't one of them, sending the whole room crazy.

Later, rapper GDP showed up to stumble through his spoken word section on the moody "Historic Cemeteries" before asking the crowd if anyone could sell him some weed. As guest appearances go, it was an odd one. The set concluded with a rousing rendition of "Twin Size Mattress", forcing huge singalongs ("With tears in my eyes, I begged you to stay. You said 'Hey man, I love you. But no fucking way'"). It's a brilliant closer, but such moments were a touch too infrequent. The Front Bottoms currently lack the qualities that turn good live bands into great ones, but it may well come in time. Such is their level of popularity, I expect them to graduate to the 2000 capacity rooms next time out.


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