We wouldn’t blame anyone for feeling like Welsh veteran rockers Funeral For A Friend have arrived in Brighton tonight with something to prove. Diminishing album sales and a rather premature Greatest Hits album in 2009 left many hanging on the verge of what felt like an imminent break-up. But their current tour is in support of fifth album ‘Welcome Home, Armageddon’ which, thankfully, feels like a breath of fresh air in comparison to the two previous releases. A look around the venue tonight and it really shows, the Concorde is packed to the brim with the loud buzzing of youthful excitement, on what feels very much like some sort of ‘comeback’ tour.
Opening song ‘Roses for the Dead’ instantly has the crowd trampolining to the beat and wailing their lungs out as if no time has passed at all. Old fan favorite ‘Rookie of the Year’ follows this to a rapturous response, feeling just as fresh as it did eight years ago. The set draws heavily from the band’s earlier records, playing just one song from the rather dubious ‘middle-period’ – a mark of respect and appreciation on the band’s behalf towards the songs that defined the teenage years of what we imagine is a large proportion of the audience. ‘Red Is the New Black’ and ‘Juneau’ incite emphatic chant-a-longs, whilst the scintillating ‘End of Nothing’ and ‘Monsters’ send sweaty limbs flailing in appreciation of Kris Coombs-Robert’s angular guitar riffs. A generous dose of the new record is included also, all of which gets a positive reaction, especially addictive adolescent anthem ‘Sixteen’ and the thunderous ‘Spinning Over an Island’.
The performance tonight shows a band brimming with experience and boasts a fresh depth in songs. The new material brings a heavier metallic edge to their set, providing a nice contrast to the emotive anthems featured on previous material. Frontman Matthew Davies-Kreye supplies comical problem-solving banter in-between numbers, sharing nostalgia and excitedly inciting ‘jousting’ matches inside mosh pits. This is a band that are very much back on top of their game, and it’s clear they’re loving every minute of it.
Concorde2, Tuesday 5th April 2011
Words by Joel Carr