Tonight is a little puzzling to me. See, I still think of White Lies as being a small, 'cultish' band with a loyal but limited following. This makes no real sense because they have bags of tunes and wide appeal, even so this thought prevails. I'm strangely excited then to see they've filled the Academy to bursting. An even more impressive feat when you consider their average audience member is a tiny fifteen year old taking up no space at all.
They're popular then. Radio hits. The new album 'Ritual' draws in a new audience too. And they’re still accepting goodwill for their excellent debut album. All very much deserved and earned. Touring continually. I get it, I really do.
I'm a genuine fan of their songs. 'Bigger Than Us', 'Farewell to the Fairground', 'To Lose My Life', 'Strangers' - these all possess the melancholy and anthemic edge on stage that they evoke on the albums. The crowd of tweenies, and a few of us older souls, revel in singing every word. We dance and surge, raise our hands in praise and generally give it some welly throughout.
So, I'm puzzled why? Weirdly, I think we, the crowd. are working harder than the band. The reciprocal love isn’t felt coming from the stage. There are some cursory 'Thank you's' but doled out with a lack of passion. It feels pretty clinical and by turns insincere. Late in the set launching into 'Death', still by far their best song, I'm almost prepared to forgive their formulaic approach but really would have killed for some enthusiasm along with the cracking tunes.
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