- Warning: Extremely Enthusiastic Review - Phoenix makes people go crazy

live review - Phoenix in London (march, 2010)
by Linda

Remember that bit I wrote about Beach House/Grizzly Bear at the Roundhouse where I commented on the temperatures rising to tropical levels? Well, imagine that same venue, but now replace the said bands with Phoenix, that French collective who made one of last year's best albums. An album filled with catchy music that would prevent anyone from standing still. Get the idea?

To make sure we reach the appropriate temperatures even before Phoenix comes on, Two Door Cinema Club are given the opportunity to promote their recently released album Tourist History. Though their album appears to be released with the idea of, "Hey, people really seemed to like those singles we've put out! Let's copy those songs and call it an album!", they are a lot better live. The way they build up their songs reminds me of Editors' early work. As Editors' guitarist Chris Urbanowicz once explained, they use two different melody lines: the vocals and the guitar. But as opposed to Editors, Two Door Cinema Club are a lot more upbeat and danceable, and, regarding the last few years of Editors, sincere. Nice to see a band that thoroughly enjoy being on stage.

But band of the evening are of course Phoenix. I think I missed the part where they've become massively famous, and attained herds of screaming female fans. People are so excited to see them that, once the lights go out, pictures are taken en masse of the white curtains that separate the audience from the stage. Once the first notes of 'Lisztomania' are played and the band’s silhouettes are projected on to the curtains visions are blurred by the sudden amount of photo-camera flashes, and the cheers are deafening for just a minute. One might think it's a bit pretentious to open with one of your best known singles, surely that's to be left for the end of the set? But with Phoenix that's certainly not the case. From front to back, the set is filled with killer tracks, there's not a dull or lagging moment to be found. Okay, maybe the bit where Thomas Mars dives into the audience during the third song and has to find his way back to the stage which does take some time, but this also neatly leads into a rather sublime version of 'Love Like a Sunset', which is mostly instrumental so Thomas can take his time.

Throughout the entire set Phoenix seems to have the appearance of one of those previously defunct rock bands that have gotten back together only to discover how much they actually love performing live and to harvest the cult-status they've build up over the years of their absence. It's just that Phoenix never have been away. Still, they perform like they've just conquered the world, or at least an entire football stadium. The herds of screaming fans are thus easily explained: those are just the people who've seen Phoenix perform live before and it's not long before the minority who were stunned at this unexpected enthusiasm join in.

Now, you'll often see Phoenix described as 'those French indie rockers', and yes, most of their set could be described as rock. But there are also those moments when they sound almost like fellow Frenchmen Daft Punk. Take 'Funky Squaredance' with its raving synths for instance, during which Thomas Mars suddenly appears in a cloud of smoke, almost like a God-like creature. And that's not the only song from the first album that makes its appearance on the set list: all four albums are covered tonight. 'Too Young' and 'If I Ever Feel Better' of United are absolute highlights, as are 'Consolation Prizes' of It's Never Been Like That and 'Run Run Run' of Alphabetical. The band balances the more danceable songs perfectly with some slower moments, like in the build up of the earlier mentioned 'Love Like a Sunset', during which guitarists Christian Mazzalai and Laurent Brancowitz show us some excellent call and reply riffs, ultimately leading into the song.

After exactly an hour, the stage is cleared, but of course only for a short while. Surprisingly, the crowd's cheers are so loud that I at least can't really distinguish an increase in volume when Phoenix finally do appear on stage again. To start of the encore, Thomas Mars proves himself a real chansonnier by choosing to for once sing a French song. Even though the entire show has been packed with amazing singles and showcased highlight after highlight, there's still that one song that hasn't been played yet. So once the first chords of '1901' sound through the Roundhouse, a dancing frenzy is inevitable. At the end of that song one would think that it's really over now: Thomas Mars has left the stage and the lights on the stage lower. But there's still that bass line lingering in the background, and the rest of the band's silhouettes are still distinguishable on stage. And then suddenly people start looking over their shoulders as Thomas Mars has just appeared in the back of the venue and '1901' starts all over again, all whilst Monsieur Mars makes his way to the stage again, only to finally end one of the most memorable gigs of the year. Merci beaucoup, Phoenix, merci beaucoup.