Fucked Up return to Brighton...
Standing on Brighton beach on a miserable Friday evening wondering where everyone is, was not the best start to the night, but thanks to modern technology and my excellent investigative skills I was able to track down Fucked Up to The Haunt - Incidentally everyone else obviously got the memo.
This is Fucked Up's first time back in Brighton since David Comes To Life was released, they start the show with Queen of Hearts; I had been forewarned that the vocals from Sandy Miranda would be somewhat light live, which is a shame as on record I love this song, but luckily Ben Cook provided some much needed vocal support.
And off comes the shirt... luckily, or unluckily depending on your point of view, I'm not in quite such close proximity as I was the last time I saw Fucked Up!
The majority of the set is made up of tracks from the new album, mixed up with some favourites such as Black Albino Bones, Son The Father and also a slowed down version of "David Comes To Life" from Hidden world, during which Damian Abraham managed to crush a plastic beer glass into his forehead, amazingly it stays put throughout most of the song despite his best efforts to dislodge it.
A Little Death follows, but before we can get back to the music Damian decides to saunter through the crowd to perch on the bar and treat us to a little bit of story time. Everyone is captivated by a delightful tale of the last time they played in Brighton, which saw Damian descend into the crowd, dripping with a glorious cocktail of sweat and peanut butter, members of the audience ending up with it in their mouths as they licked his fingers clean, only later does it occur that he may have inadvertently killed someone. However some stories are best not repeated in polite company or otherwise!
We are then treated to The Other Shoe audience participation coming from the many bodies which fill the stage while the band seek refuge , this works to create a really good atmosphere with loads of different people having a great time together. The band, except Damian, attempt to leave the stage, a guitar is handed to the crowd by a very drunk Mike Haliechuk who appears to collapse and is dragged off stage left, from where a very pungent smell wafts into the venue, and it certainly wasn't the smell of a large very sweaty man covered in peanut butter!
They return for the last song and encore Police before leaving to fulfill their name.