Wild Beasts at Field Day 2009
Wild Beasts are very much like Marmite. You either love them or hate them. The deal breaker is always the rather unusual voices that singers Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming bellow over the funky indie-pop that is so incredibly catchy and dance worthy but at the same time deep, rich and textured.
With new album Two Dancers only a couple of days from release much of the focus of this set is on new material, but this does not disappoint. Choice picks include ’All the King’s Men’ and single ‘Hooting and Howling’, both of which have the strut of Sly & The Family Stone but with the sombre elements of gritty indie music like Interpol.
The reason Wild Beasts are so special live is because of how utterly immersed in the music all four band members are. There is no attempt to over act, just genuine enjoyment of what they are performing, and the crowd lap up every second of it.
Despite the enjoyment that the new material gives everyone, it’s still the old favourites that get the biggest cheer, particularly ‘The Devil’s Crayon’ and ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyant’ which encourage the most enraptured response.