The well oiled machine rumbles on
Twenty four hours before this show the Brixton Academy website was listing tickets still available. Fifteen minutes before Feeder took to the stage the venue looked pretty packed, full of fans expectant for another feel-good Feeder performance.
Just after 9 PM Grant Nicholas and co arrived on stage, and proceeded to deliver a set packed with hits, plus a sprinkling of material from 2008 album ‘A Silent Cry’. Although their most recent offering is a solid record, there’s little on it that will see their arsenal of ultimate anthems expand in the near future. That said, album and current tour set opener ‘We Are the People’ is one direct from the mould labeled classic Feeder, and it sat well ahead of established oldies ‘Feeling A Moment’, the mighty ‘Shatter’ and ‘Come Back Around’.
As well as being treated to a collection of tracks that ticked all the right boxes, the Brixton Academy crowd got an impressive lighting show and a backdrop of creative images, think stadium rock but on a smaller scale. Fire, a bird of prey and, during new album track ‘Who’s the Enemy’, black and white images of people fleeing or being carried away (one was carried through thick snow).
As ever the classics in the setlist spanned the bands whole career, with the current tour getting the usuals ‘We Can’t Rewind’, ‘Insomnia’, ‘Just the Way I’m Feeling’, ‘Pushing the Senses’ and ‘Comfort in Sound’. You don’t need me to tell you that the biggest reaction came for ‘Buck Rogers’, closely followed by ‘High’.
The main set was brought to a close by another massive fan participation moment for ‘Lost and Found’, before Feeder paused ahead of a four song encore.
This opened with an acoustic version of ‘A Silent Cry’, followed by ‘Tumble and Fall’, ‘Seven Days in the Sun’ and the only way to end a Feeder show, ‘Just A Day’, with Grant handing a guitar out to someone at the front of the crowd.
By Feeder’s very high standards this wasn’t quite up there with the greatest shows I’ve seen them play, the setlist had little by way of a surprise, that said Feeder are a band who eclipse most when they merely reach a level of very good. They may not be flavour of the month anymore in terms of media exposure, but nobody can argue with their ability to turn in a professional performance of the highest order. If ever you’re stuck for a guaranteed good night out, Feeder are your band!