The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

FAMY at the Lexington

FAMY at the Lexington | Live review
1 August 2014
Johanna Eliasson
Avatar
Johanna Eliasson
1 August 2014

Music review

Johanna Eliasson
★★★★★

Highlights

Ava, Donkey

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

Random words are forming a delicate poem on the backdrop. White flowers adorn the stage and drumkit, together with signs with quotes like “Now that I like you, I know that I didn’t think I would”. Famy has created something reminiscent of an altar for their music, and it’s eerie before they step on stage. When they do enter the view everything falls in place and it all feels so very right.

The tune of Famy’s first song fills the Lexington: the enchanting melodies, drumbeats and Bruce Yate’s light, brittle falsetto make the audience move to the melancholic wind that is Donkey. The band has a very special quality to their sound; having several connections to the infamous WU LYF, they have taken the controversial band’s sound and transmitted it to something less polemic but with all their folk-rock. Famy’s crisp guitar-based songs have a rare way of connecting with the listener both through the music and via the lyrics – the kind of stadium chants merged with sensible guitar that has a surprisingly broad appeal.

The band works through a set of great songs (all except for a cover of cheerful track Have You Ever Seen the Rain, which may or may not have been ironic): we hear A Ho A Hand, followed by Ava Epilogue that ironically segues into Ava, one of the band’s biggest successes so far. At the opening of the song, a surge runs through the audience and every person in the room sings along. The only offering matching huge opening Donkey, Ava is the perfect track to round off the gig. All of Famy’s songs have feeling, but this one is an explosion of emotions that cannot fail to touch anyone in its reach.

Creating an art installation that is both visual and auditory, with flawless music, Famy are hard to equal. May their debut album be a great success and bring them many new adoring fans.

★★★★★

Johanna Eliasson

For further information about FAMY and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Ava here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsfolk poplivemusicstadium

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Johanna Eliasson
★★★★★

Highlights

Ava, Donkey

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • You Me at Six – Suckapunch
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Outside the Wire
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories
    Theatre
  • Sleaford Mods – Spare Ribs
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Female filmmakers lead nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards
    Cinema
  • Persian Lessons: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Jeremiah Fraites: Piano Piano
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Quo Vadis, Aida?
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Lonely the Brave – The Hope List
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Queen’s Gambit: A chess story that’s not about the moves but the motives
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Undercover at Morpheus Show Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Ten short literary collections to get you back into reading
    Literature
  • Mayor
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Ward Thomas: Country stars from Hampshire chat to The Upcoming
Laura Groves at St Pancras Old Church | Live review