Funeral For A Friend / Cytota

Having seen Funeral For A Friend play much larger venues, I feel so lucky to be seeing them at  the smaller, more intimate gigs again now, and Underworld is the ultimate cosy venue to play. 

I arrive to the venue to find it bursting to the brim with a mixed crowd of excited fans, all eager to hear the band play the album 'Hours' in its entirety! 'Hours' was the first album I heard by Funeral For A Friend (Otherwise known as FFAF) and I have always held a special place for it, to hear it all live was going to be a great event, just seeing the Backdrop of the Album was enough to get me excited for the coming event!

The guys come on stage to thunderous cheers and claps and as soon as the first note of 'All The Rage' starts, the crowd surge is felt as everyone begins to dance, jump around, crowd surf, or whatever it is they are all doing! As the guys move on to 'Street Car' the happy crowd carry on with their dancing, cheering and singing along and the place starts heating up real fast. I make it as far as the end of the awesome 'Roses For The Dead' before deciding to soak up the atmosphere and tunes from the back of the venue, although I do find a chair to stand on so I can still see what is happening on stage!

Singer Matthew Davies reminds me of a hyperactive teenager, he never stands still, always moving, always talking or singing and generally he makes me dizzy to watch, but I wouldn't have it any other way as I feel it adds a frantic energy to their shows that gives you even more of a buzz, his enthusiasm and energy are always evident in every performance and there is no exception tonight as he tells the crowd to look out for each other and to accept that if you are in the main crowd you WILL have people surfing over your head and you have to accept that if you stay there. It's enough to send chills down the spine as the crowd sing 'History' back to Davies, but even more so when they do it on 'Recovery'.

"Promise me, promise me , promise me, you will not ever leave” is awesome to hear.

Even more chills follow as Davies announces how they have only ever played this song around five times, 'Sonny' begins, and wow so great to hear!! All too soon the 'album' is finished but FFAF continue with the same energy and enthusiasm as they belt out their final tracks. For 'Juneau', Harry from the support band Cytota joins them on stage to do the drumming, apparently a huge fan of FFAF since he was young, he does a great job and I wonder how great it must feel to not only share the stage with a band you have always loved, but to play one of their songs on stage with them too!!!.

Soon enough the guys blast in to 'Escape Artists Never Die' as Davies sings, "We'll start a fire and burn some bridges and make it out of here tonight” I can't help but wonder if that is exactly what they did tonight, The energy and adrenalin that runs through the shows these guys play is amazing I am always in awe of how much passion they put into them!

All too soon the night was over and it was time to leave, but one thing is for sure, I WILL be seeing these guys again!