What a throwback. Most of us commonly know The Fratellis from way back in 2006, when their best-known hits, ‘Chelsea Dagger’ and ‘Whistle For The Choir’ were charting. Fast forward 9 years, and they are touring again with a brand new album released this year, ‘Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied’. Tonight we were joined by the band in Norwich’s LCR, with support from The Crookes, for a night full of great, new music.
The Crookes, a British indie-rock band formed in Sheffield in 2008, welcomed the crowd to the gig as they performed a set of super catchy tunes, enticing the crowd into the performance. For the band, who are due to release their new album in January 2016 and are undertaking a headline tour at the start of next year, it was important for them to win over the dense crowd. However, there is no denying that they succeeded in this. Despite much of the crowd standing towards the back of the venue chatting away during their set, those at the front were fully committed to their performance, and rightly so, as they performed as if it was second nature to them.
Of course, by the time The Fratellis took to the stage, the room fell into darkness, and those who had been talking at the back had now made their way to the front of the venue with their eyes glued to the stage. The room was silent and the intro track began as the band took centre stage. The Fratellis opened their set as they meant to go on, performing ‘Baby Don’t You Lie To Me’ from their new album, ‘Eyes Wide, Tongue Tied’, released earlier this year. They went on to perform others from their new album, such as ‘Imposters (Little by Little)’, ‘Me and The Devil’ and ‘Thief’. The sound of this album is different to how we remember their old hits, such as ‘Chelsea Dagger’. It possesses more of a folk, indie-rock sound. A sound that made them feel current and diverse as a band, who are still able to produce hits as they have previously.
The atmosphere was great whilst the band were on stage. The crowd were livelier than ever before, creating small mosh pits to some of the more up-tempo songs. Of course, this peaked when the band reached the last few songs of their set. Penultimately came the song everyone was waiting for; the song everyone knew the lyrics to. ‘Chelsea Dagger’. The crowd were ecstatic as the tune filled the LCR and began to bring the band’s set to a close.
The Fratellis ended their set with a cover, which is unusual for a band to do. We all expected ‘Chelsea Dagger’ to be the last song, however, the band treated us to a cover of Dion’s ‘Runaround Sue’, which provided a great closing to the band’s set and the show as a whole.
The gig was a great night out for all Fratellis fans and had a few throwbacks for those who used to know the band. I would thoroughly recommend seeing this band; who are continuing to release great hits!
Words – Mollie Maddox
Photography – Kayleigh Warren
