Foxes & The Script LIVE @ The Camden Roundhouse 15.9.14

Rating:

Foxes

In a pop music generation which thrives off shock value and mildly pornographic music videos, seldom do we find a singer that cuts back to simplicity: a pretty girl with a phenomenal voice. Foxes fits the criteria perfectly and tonight, delivered a delightful display of pop. Instead of hot-pants or some other revealing outfit, Louisa Rose Allen (A.k.a Foxes) strutted around dressed in what seemed like a cardigan made of ostrich feathers. “I look like a bird, it’s lovely!” the Southampton singer beamed, after performing the deliciously sultry opening track ‘Save Me’.

Often singers disappoint live, however Foxes was near perfect in the delivery of her tracks, each sounding as close as you can get to album quality. Through ‘Youth’, an electric fan was activated, ensuring her luscious locks were continually floating in the wind with the elegance of a high-end shampoo advert. Bouncing around like a kangaroo on red bull, she encouraged the crowd to turn their phone torches on, albeit sadly failing to deliver with many simply grumbling ‘No sorry, I’ve got low battery.’ You know who you are; Boo hiss boo.

Unfazed by this, Foxes continued to rampage through an impressive array of tracks, including ‘Holding Onto Heaven’ and ‘Right Here’, her collaboration with Rudimental (yes, she sang that too). Showing remarkable maturity in her performance, you almost forget how much of a recent a revelation Foxes is, considering her debut album was only released several months ago.

After bit of names dropping about her tour with Pharrell, and one lurid flashing Christmas tree microphone stand later, she covered Pharrell’s mega hit ‘Happy’, which at first was almost impossible to recognise. The pace of the song was slow and sad, seeming as if it was sung with a sense of irony, a very clever touch. The mood immediately returned however, with Foxes bringing the mood back by upping the tempo and resuming her bouncing.

Finishing with aplomb, Foxes ended her chirpy set with the massive hits ‘Clarity’ and ‘Let’s Go For Tonight’. With hair blowing in the wind, her stylish pink top and shirt, Foxes looked every bit the future pop queen.

The Script

After a fairly surreal and somewhat disorienting introduction video, The Script weren’t off to an amazing start in my books. No indie pop band should start a gig with a video similar to one of Slipknot. My opinion changed hastily with the very Irish track ‘Paint The Town Green’, a single off their new album.

With the crowd very much in the party spirit, they launched into the memorable ‘Before The Worst’. Before long however, calamity struck and lead singer Danny slipped in the faux pas committed by many, the line “And now we’re now going to play you our new stuff”. Cue the audience groaning. Even this didn’t dampen the spirits of the Irish lads, who laughed off the crowds ‘passport faces’. Despite that, the crowd grinned and bore it and were pleasantly surprised. To my shocking discovery, The Script are still churning out super catchy pop hits. Their latest album looks like quality, with hits on it including ‘Superheroes’ and ‘Man On A Wire’ to name but a few.

After some fairly shameless promotion of their new album, they still had time to play all of their classics such as ‘The Man Who Can’t be Moved’, ‘Breakeven’ and ‘Nothing’. It also has to be said that the crowning gem of the evening was Danny getting a crowd member to call their ‘bitch of ex’ at the gig. The phone was then passed to Danny when then sang the entirety of “Nothing” to her. Take that Danielle.

It has to be said that despite my initial misgivings, The Script were genuinely a joy to watch, with their routine nailed to a tee and armed an arsenal of fun and catchy songs. Well done lads.

@Spikykeir