Polyphonic Spree // Waterfront // 09.06.14
They had us eating out of their hands from R.I.P. Rik Mayall.
They had us eating out of their hands from R.I.P. Rik Mayall. Let me explain. Every night the band take their places behind a piece of white fabric which is stretched across the stage, a town crier bellows out a message encouraging us to make lots of noise then lead singer Tim DeLaughter sprays a venue specific message onto the sheet. Tonight’s message was in honour of the aforementioned comedy hero whose untimely passing was still breaking news. Many people clearly hadn’t heard the sad news as phones were whipped out to check. The cloth was then cut to reveal the Spree in all of their glory. A nice touch I thought.
Now trimmed down to a mere 14 musicians, the thing that struck me immediately was the sheer epic scale of their sound. I hesitate to use the expression ‘wall of sound’ but that’s exactly what it was. Not only that but the sound mix was as good as I’ve ever heard it at the Waterfront, every instrument and voice came through loud and clear. After the initial fanfare it was straight into ‘Hold Me Now’ which was the perfect opener – joyous and uplifting with a huge sing-along chorus. This formula was pretty much repeated for the next hour and forty minutes, and let me tell you it was a great formula. In the ideal world Polyphonic Spree should be filling Wembley Stadium while we, the robe wearing masses, join them to fill the world with unbridled positivity, but sadly the reality was the turnout could have been better. A real shame but perhaps this reflects the bands fortunes in recent years. The irony being that the songs aired from their most recent album ‘Yes, It’s True’ were some of the main highlights of the set, especially ‘Popular By Design’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me’ which slotted in perfectly next to their older, more familiar material.
You’ve got to admire Tim DeLaughter’s crazed optimism, throughout he was the perfect leader, whether standing up on the monitors encouraging the crowd, or engaging with his fellow band members, all of whom were superb. He was also very honest about how hard it is to maintain such a large band, telling us how they’ve been dropped from 8 labels in 14 years (!) and urging us to spend some cash on merchandise. Fair play to him, anything to keep this magnificent band touring and recording.
Towards the end, after a killer cover of Wings’ ‘Live & Let Die’ Tim jumped offstage into the crowd and I promise you we all strained to get to him! Somehow perhaps some of his innate positivity would spread to us. Soon he had everyone leaping in the air as we all sung as loud as we could. Maybe the band were disappointed that the crowd wasn’t bigger, but by the end it seemed like everyone, crowd and band alike, had enjoyed a memorable evening. This really was a special night and if they’re playing like this every night I suspect they’ll be around for many more years to come. Moments after finishing their set Tim was out mingling with the fans, and I’ll say to you what I said to him – not only was this the best gig I’ve seen so far this year but it was also the most fun I have ever had on a Monday night. Trust me, I’ve checked!
