The Naked and Famous @ Heaven, 15/02/2011

I was a little surprised this gig sold out, just two singles so far and the album yet to be released in the UK, but Kiwi synth, rock, pop, gaze gang The Naked and Famous sold out this NME gig. Support came from Spark and Wolf Gang in the salubrious surrounds of Heaven.

My gig buddy for the night was out of gig practice and this was a nice easy one. We got there early enough to see the second half of Spark’s set, it was enough. She does Madonna-esque synth stuff strutting around the stage. She was ok, but seemed to spend a lot of the time air humping, we mimicked her humping and giggled like children, it was comical after a while, sing, sing lyric, blah blah, hump, hump, sing sing, hump hump, la dad a did a hump hump.
She eventually made way for Wolf Gang. I was looking forward to seeing them, single “Lions In Cages” has caught me more than once on its hook but nothing prepared me for their look. Singer Max McElligott the creative force of the band had an air of 80s George Michael about him, with the earring to match. His band are styled, the guitarist has a long flop of hair, the attire and fringes are somewhere between the late 80s and 90s, not necessarily what you expect when hearing their music beforehand but strangely makes some element of sense in hindsight. They are good but I think I need to hear more and think about it. 

Eventually it’s time for the main event, many are left a little disappointed as the band decide to play singles “Young Blood” and “Punching In A Dream” early on in their set, leaving little for those not familiar with the album to look forward to. They are a tight act with a great live sound. Should be easy when you’ve got a couple of producers in the band. Heaven. For its concrete cavern-ness has a good sound anyway and Naked and Famous fill it with lights, smoke and the dreamy songs of Thom Powers and Alisa Xayalith.

"Girls Like You" comes late on, album closer and one of my personal favourites but the packed crowd are left almost disillusioned by the mixed set made up album tracks most have yet to hear, a lot of the songs aren’t heavy enough or big enough to really kick the crowd into gear. Considering their early popularity come the summer when their audience have caught up with the songs they should be playing barn storming gigs.