Sheer Class
Well, considering the promises made at FFIV, a tour and album has been a long time comin’. So in typical FM fashion we made our way down from Countrified North Wales to the Bright Lights of Dat Dare London for FM’s Metropolis Album launch (playthrough and gig). After doting on this band over the last 20-odd years, I’ve developed a ‘ces’t la vie/shit happens’ kind of attitude. Nowadays I just look forward to the times when they tour or bring out a new album, as rest assured things won’t go to plan, as there was no album to buy (bastard). The FM guys also seem to have taken this same attitude on board. Content with their lot in life, mega stardom is unfortunately not on the horizon, and they accept this and probably now have a better band and live performance than Ive seen in a Hell of a long time. FM have a fan base who adore them (and so they should) and would crawl through broken glass just to hear them play.
And boy did they turn out, the Roundhouse was heaving, friends (which were most of the audience judging by the acknowledgements) and family, were in attendance with a couple of noted familiar and well known faces .
Thankfully FM can still draw a decent crowd, and pack a punch as their recent headlinings of Firefest have proven. FM have one the best singers (of any kind) that this country has produced, in Steve Overland. Into the fold (the first time Ive seen him live) Comes Jim Kirkpatrick or Jimmy K as was introduced, and has fit into the band like a finely tuned guitarist!
Intro was the eerie 'Halloween' before belting out the impressive 'Wildside' from the new to be released "Metropolis", wasting no time in JK showing his mighty soloing efforts (on a very small stage I might add). There wasn’t enough room on the stage to swing a keyboardist, so Jem Davis was situated a bit further along in the next post code and was counted in by semaphore.
Classic followed classic, with obligatory crowd singing the intro to ‘Face to Face’ and ‘Only The Strong Survive’ the latter a modern day FM anthem. ‘Don't Stop’ shows how good FM can be with 5 part harmonies that would put the likes of Bon Jovi to shame. A couple of new songs followed, one of which was the excellent ‘Flamingo Road’ a cross between FM and Bad Company at their very best. ‘Blood and Gasoline’ shows how plausible SO can make a lyric sound. Most couldn’t get away with, "When I hold you in my arms, my blood feels like gasoline", but Steve can sing the Yellow Pages and make it sound like a masterpiece. One of the highlights of the night was ‘Hard Day In Hell’ the first half stripped back, followed by a bluesy trade off with soloing from JK and their guest saxophonist Chris who really made this song stand out to normal, before the final couple of songs, ‘Burning My Heart Down’ and ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ before taking their bow.
For the encore we got the classic 'Frozen Heart and Bad Luck', before being joined on stage for the final track by none other than Mick Ralphs (woo-hoo!)for ‘Feel Like Makin’ Love’ a song that Steve was just born to sing.
Shame on you if you weren’t there, you missed a brilliant night. FM still have it in droves and play with a quality that is lacking by so many. Long may they continue. Just release the album guys, it sounds like its one of your best