BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham Review

For the full Flickr of pics, click here

Follow Birmingham Review onFacebook - f square, rounded - with colourTwitter - t, square, rounded - with colourinstagram-logo-webcolours - RGB

 

 

 

 

 

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Reuben Penny

I’d largely forgotten what it was like to be so focused on a band that you let your pint get warm. Especially at what is rapidly approaching six quid a time.Birmingham Review

I walked into the Band of Horses gig with an open mind, having decided to take my friend whose birthday it was not knowing that she loved Band of Horses. A happy accident, but one that left with a 40-minute drive and a lot of waxing lyrical about how good they are. I try not to believe any kind of hype and make my own mind up; not having seen Band of Horses before, I nodded and smiled in all the right places but would leave it to the band to do the real talking.

The evening seemed a bit flat on the run up to the main event; slow to get people in, quite a subdued support band, sedate lighting. So when Band of Horses came on and launched into a slow number, I wasn’t holding out much hope.

Sometimes it’s good to be wrong.

Band of Horses finished the first half of what turned out to be called ‘Dull Times/The Moon’ (you got me guys) and then launched into the second half which opened the set proper. And it was a launch. They hit the audience with song after song for 30 minutes plus, without even stopping to let a full round of applause ring out and with the instrument changes they throw in. That’s no mean feat.

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham ReviewI was impressed. You may be able to tell. That level of polish and co-ordination takes a lot of work and a lot of gigs to get right; it’s clear that while Band of Horses might not be making leaps in innovation musically, they are a professional and dedicated outfit.

They also have a new album to promote, Why Are You OK, but interspersed the set well with classics; all the new material was consolidated into the first half of the set, leaving the second half for crowd pleasers. A reward for being patient with the new material. And I don’t feel like we needed it. I think Why Are You OK has some strong songs on it the band playing them fresh on this tour, and the few gigs they did last year, did them proud.

The first half of the set had some great dynamic shifts too, with the straight through approach feeling more like a stage show than a race to the end. We had ‘Solemn Oath’, ‘Casual Party’, ‘Country Teen’ and ‘Throw My Mess’ off the new record, side by side with ‘The Great Salt Lake’, ‘Marry Song’, ‘Laredo’ and more from the back catalogue. I couldn’t help feeling it drop off a bit about halfway though.

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham ReviewBy the time ‘In A Drawer’ was performed, the last song they played off the new album, things had settled down a bit and lost a little momentum. Still high quality material, just that compared to the grand entrance the peak had passed and what I would normally expect to be a big build up to the real big crowd pleasers, was more of a stroll.

But the crowd pleasers are just that and left everyone on a high, with the live rendition of ‘Is There A Ghost’ being especially good. I had heard rumours Band of Horses were not doing encores for some of the gigs on this tour and I wondered if they would for us. But they didn’t disappoint; ‘The Funeral’ ended the set, and with a roaring applause the evening.

They look like truckers, they play like rockers and they put a setlist together well. But the lull in the middle was shame and if I’m honest, they’ve stayed true to form and kept to their own brand of Southern Rock without too much change or re-invention.

Overall, Band of Horses came over as a relaxed group who put on a good show; I would absolutely recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.

__________

For more on Band of Horses, visit www.bandofhorses.com

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

Follow Birmingham Review onFacebook - f square, rounded - with colourTwitter - t, square, rounded - with colourinstagram-logo-webcolours - RGB

For the full Flickr of pics, click here

BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

Follow Birmingham Review onFacebook - f square, rounded - with colourTwitter - t, square, rounded - with colourinstagram-logo-webcolours - RGB

 

 

Words by Damien Russell

On the 20th of February, Band of Horses will be performing at the O2 Institute – playing in Birmingham as part of 7 UK/Ireland dates on their international tour.Birm_Prev-logo-MAIN

Doors will be opening at 19:00 and tickets are £25.75 (plus booking fees) as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

For those of you not already familiar with Band of Horses there’s a fair amount of catching up to do. The band formed in 2004 and in their 13 years have had 6 studio albums and 1 Grammy nomination. They have also had 8 line-up changes, although band leader Ben Bridwell has remained constant throughout.

BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18Band of Horses hit the ground running with their first album Everything All The Time, a minor hit that charted internationally – even in Scandinavia, where it found the lower reaches of both Sweden and Norway’s national album charts. The band’s debut single, ‘The Funeral’, has been used in numerous television series, films, video games, and advertisements.

Their successes continued and their third album, Infinite Arms, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Alternative Album category. The LP also and featured in the Best Albums of 2010 lists from Q Magazine (#21), NPR Listeners (#15), Filter Magazine (#10) and Paste Magazine (#14). The song ‘Laredo’ was placed at No28 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 50 songs of 2010.

Band of Horses’ sixth and latest album, Why Are You OK,  was released in June 2016 and brings the band back to a fuller sound. In an interview with Gigwise.com, Ben Bridwell said; “I wanted to pore over it and explore some more sincere themes, instead of speaking in riddles so no one knows what I’m talking about. That was fuelling the fire and that takes time.”

For a pre-gig taster, check out Band of Horses’ latest single, ‘Solemn Oath’ – released on June 10th 2016.

Band of Horses perform at the O2 Institute on Monday 20th February, as presented SJM Concerts. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

__________

For more on Band of Horses, visit www.bandofhorses.com

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

Follow Birmingham Review onFacebook - f square, rounded - with colourTwitter - t, square, rounded - with colourinstagram-logo-webcolours - RGB