Yay, Future Of The Left are back in London… everyone loves Future Of The Left. What’s more exciting is that they have just released the absolutely incredible How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident so the prospect of seeing these legendary noise rockers with a few more shout alongs in their artillery is nothing short of perfect. I thought Heaven was an interesting choice of venue, the last time I actually saw them play London was late last year at the Bull & Gate in Kentish town which holds around 150 so I thought jumping to 600 was ambitious. I was wrong of course, the place was rammed and was great to see them getting the size of audience they thoroughly deserve.
First off, apologies to USA Nails and whoever’s reading this as I missed their set (sorry Ed. am I in shit?). They were on pretty early and you know what it’s like getting to a venue straight from work. I literally walked in and they walked off, I really have nothing to say but Future Of The Left like them so let’s assume they were good (sorry).
Next up were Peterborough rockers, The Wytches. A no nonsense kind of band with almost zero chat who hammered through some noisy grunge. That’s not a phrase you hear often nowadays but they definitely had a bit of Nirvana about them. Hair swung over the vocalist’s chops and there was just a general feel of a bunch of fellas who knocked around Seattle in the early 90s. It was also very noise rock and you can tell they have enjoyed the odd McClusky albumn in the past. It was ok, the trouble with a support band of this nature for Future Of The Left is that you know the main event is similar but will absolutely destroy them. However, there is certainly potential there and I dug the sleazy almost surf like guitar sound so worth keeping an eye on.
Now for the big one, there’s no point seeing Future Of The Left unless you get stuck in so I battled my way to the first couple of rows. You could tell it was going to fucking kick off. They graced the stage and opened with ‘Arming Eritrea’ from the second album, I love it when they do that. The ultimate fist pumping sing along and the room erupted into a stupidly fun mosh pit, which maintained its chaotic swirl until the bitter end of the set. The set list was perfect really, they played a whopping seven new ones which the crowd were screaming along to like they’ve known them for years. I think that says it all about the quality and consistency of the song writing. By the time they played ‘Robocop 4 – Fuck off Robocop’ about two thirds of the way through, I could have collapsed. I was having way more fun in that mosh pit than a 30 year old is entitled to, but sod it…. resistance is futile. It’s clear as this band keeps releasing music their set list is going to get better and better which resulted in me croaking “This one is my favourite” to my mate on pretty much every song, crazy.
Falco is a world class front man, absolutely hilarious, gives it 100% and an underrated musician in my opinion. He swaps instruments and belts out boundary pushing music like it ain’t no thing. He normally has a hint of disdain about him, taking the piss out of everyone and everything but there was slightly less of it this time. He seemed slightly humbled and overwhelmed to be playing their biggest headline gig and made sure he told us just that. That’s not to say he didn’t insult Metallica multiple times…. standard. He also slagged off Piers Morgan to within an inch of his life and ripped a heckler to shreds, but that’s pretty well behaved for him. He also had some rather touching words to say about the drummer having a baby 2 weeks earlier, nawww (before ripping the piss). There was shout out to the security for "Not being massive cunts" and he was right, they were polite and just left us to it when we smashed into each other like proper morons, good people. At this point I would like to big up Heaven. I stupidly assumed it would be some shit West End venue but I was wrong, nice layout and just so damn loud… loudest band I’ve seen all year and I saw Årabrot in June. Can more people put on gigs there please?
I love the band’s current lineup, it just so well balanced. It was hard to see how they would recover when Kelson left all those years ago, he was such a massive character. However, it’s now hard to remember them without Jimmy and Julia. Jimmy is an out and out nutter while Julia just pounds that bass like a hypnotic goddess, I think I love her (sorry wife). The gig ended with a mash up of ‘Singing of the Bonesaws / Lapsed Catholics / Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues', so a real celebration of all things Future Of The Left (and McClusky). By the time it was over I was nearly in tears; epic band, epic show. Then they just went mental, including Jimmy who taped beers to various members of the audiences’ heads before picking them up with Hulk like strength and pouring them over everyone (of course). He then grabbed up a weird long sausage thing and waved it as he made his way to the back of the room on someone’s shoulder before he clambered onto a balcony and just generally acted silly whilst we all let it settle in that this momentous occasion was over, class.
