Slightly dreary October weeknight. A pretty well suited meteorological backdrop to the gig I was anticipating the most (albeit slightly, Warpaint in two weeks is also a solid contender) in late 2013: All female band Savages, evoking the early eighties vibes of bands such as Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Historical event in my personal history, the first time I can remember travelling abroad by myself to witness a musical performance. This is of course a slightly moot point, as Tourcoing is geographically way closer than Antwerp and Brussels, where I have also attented shows in the past. Nevertheless, venturing into France is always an adventure for easily disoriented persons such as myself. All it takes for me to get completely lost are slightly different road signs and road lines. Whereas I am sometimes nostalgic about days past, when going on an adventure by car in unknown territory, I am always happy and grateful to live in a time where a GPS is commonplace. Also present at Le Grand Mix, one of my top 5 favourite couples celebrating their 4 years together. Congrats again, Bram and Rosalie!
Opening act Johnny Hostile turned out to be a solo project. Johnny playing guitar, accompanied by a drum machine, reminiscing - not unlike the headliner of the evening - the darker music that came out in the eighties. When Jehnny Beth from Savages joined him on-stage for one track, comparisons to 'The Kills' automatically came to mind. Not bad, yet hardly memorable.
Savages then occupied the stage. I had expected them to play about 40 minutes, but they played nearly every song they have (apart from the instrumental track 'Dead Nature' and closing track 'Marshal dear' from the full album), and entertained the crowd for about an hour. It's always gratifying to see a band at a stage in their musical career where they still need their whole back catalogue to fill the setlist. Never any "I had hoped they would play this or that track"-complaints. Sound was adequate to good, and the stage performance was vibrant. The band dressed in mostly black, adhering closely to their own image.
Having watched some Youtube videos before the show, I noticed however that the Tourcoing performance lacked the punch I saw in some of the other live videos. Every musician was playing good in their own universe, but they seemed to be out of sync with each other for just a split second, which was nevertheless sufficient to slightly break the magic of complete synchronicity. It's possible that this was due to some technical issues the band wrestled with gracefully throughout the set.
Frontwoman Jehnny Beth is originally from France, so she had no problem addressing the crowd in their native language (even though a substantial part of the audience audibly crossed the border from Belgium just like myself). 'Il y a des hommes sauvages' when a heckler roared in the crowd and an (overly ironic) "les femmes ne connaissent rien du technique" when her monitor temporarily gave up the ghost among the headlights in that department. Apart from that, she's a frontwoman with an intense presence that really engages the crowd.
The set overall was well-balanced, opener 'I am here' serving well as a letter of intent. Weakest track in my opinion was 'I need something new', which couldn't really hold my attention. Luckily, the band recovered quickly. Definite highlight was the "Waiting for a sign/Flying to Berlin"-combo, the groovy nature of the latter contrasting well with the slow, brooding vibe of the former. Energetic single 'Husbands' also did not miss its mark.
Despite the minor criticisms I formulated earlier, my high expectations for this show were definitely met by a band on top of their game. I definitely see them going places, and urge you to go check them out if you're in the mood for a truly engaging, sizzling, contemporary post-punk live performance.
Setlist:
I am here
City's full
Shut up
I need something new
Strife
Waiting for a sign
Flying to Berlin
She will
No face
Hit me
Husbands
Fuckers
