Rare is it that a big UK indie band with three albums under their belt to play a small gig at the back of a pub in King’s Cross. So it was rather a special treat for the Editors to grace the boards at London’s Monto Water Rats, in aid of the XFM Live Sessions.
The four lads from Birmingham were busy promoting their latest album In This Light & This Morning to a packed room of the delighted, and most definitely did not fail to deliver. The hour long set, played live on XFM, jumped back and forth like a musical seesaw between new and old. They opened with In This Light & This Morning, the first track of the latest album. Dark and tense, it was a perfect start, bouncing tingles of joy and anticipation off the four walls in a Joy Divisional Mexican wave.
Every track bubbled and beat the drum of awesomeness to the crowd’s sheer joy. An End Has A Start and Racing Rats kicked everyone into sing-a-long, wrapping the warm arm of bliss across their shoulders. Smoker’s Outside Hospital Doors stole the song of the night crown, picking up the pace and bashing the big red bring the house down button. Whilst Lights and Munich were welcome reminders of their great 2005 debut The Back Room, the latter particularly dazzling and sparking in its own brilliance.
Even the more unknown tracks from the new album kept the atmosphere pounding. Bricks and Mortar stomped its bass beats like a stubborn child, refusing to let go of your attention. New single You Don’t Know Love held a certain swagger. It is dark and electronic; thumping with synthesisers and style; but the chorus is the key. As four simple heartfelt words kick in, the sound jumped a gear, rocking your head and stretching your lips into a smile.
No band are great without a stunning front man, and the Editors are no exception. Lead singer Tom Smith is a livewire. He jumps, bounds, bounces and belts the music into the audience. He is the pumping pulse that keeps the Editors veins rich with the pounding energy that has seen their success. And this is no truer than in the final song Papillon. Bringing the evening to a close, he threw everything into the popular fan favourite, shouting “it kicks like a sleep twitch” with the screaming fans. It was a musical cherry, topping a 13 song chocolate cake to die for.
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