The Fratellis @ Webster Hall
June 18th, 2008 - by Linda
At this time last year, I was writing my master’s capstone on Scottish rock bands. I was hoping to never write about the Fratellis again, but here I am. At the time, I thought the Fratellis were going to be big, but the initial buzz after that iPod commercial seemed to die quickly and backlash followed (Los Campesinos! won’t even be your friend if you like the Fratellis). Then last week, they came out with what in my opinion is a brilliant sophomore album, Here We Stand, and played a sold out show at Webster Hall.
The Fratellis debut album, Costello Music, featured boozy singalongs about girls with catchy hooks. Here We Stand is a little more of the same, but more toned down. There are a few misses, like “Mistress Mabel,” the poor man’s “Chelsea Dagger,” but for the most part, the variety and maturity on the second album makes it superior.
At Webster Hall on Friday night, the crowd was pretty well mixed in age and gender. The venue had yet to fill up when openers the Airborne Toxic Event from Los Angeles took the stage, yet everyone in the front was already crowding together, trying to get as close to the stage as possible. The bright colored lighting made it hard to see the band.
The five-piece band plays indie rock infused with violin and a little bit of pretension. They sounded pretty good, but they played for far too long, probably close to an hour. I like to see opening acts because you never know when you’ll discover a great band, but I prefer the sets to be short enough to introduce me to the band but not too long that I get impatient for the band I actually came to see. That’s unfair, I know, but it’s just how I feel.
The Fratellis opened with “My Friend John,” one of my favorite songs on the new album, but it sounded off, the playing lazy. Earlier that day, they played an acoustic show at the Virgin Megastore (which many audience members were raving about, but I couldn’t attend, because I, you know, have a job), so maybe they were tired. But the concert got progressively better and towards the end, Jon admitted that he felt “shite” at the beginning and apologized that the first five songs didn’t sound great. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a band apologize for sounding bad, so that was pretty refreshing, even though it would have been better if they sounded awesome the whole time.
By this point, the 1,400-capacity venue was completely packed. The band did a good job of mixing up the set list with new and old, the hits and the more obscure songs (including “Cuntry Boys & City Girls,” which was not included on the American Costello Music). My friend and I were standing towards the front with all the other short girls near a large group of rather obnoxious drunk boys who were aggressively pushing everyone.
I know, it’s a concert, I should relax and have fun. I can understand jumping and dancing, but I really don’t understand inflicting pain on others. If you must push people around, at least confine it to the songs that lend itself to that behavior, such as “Chelsea Dagger.” Don’t do it during every song, even the slow acoustic ones. That’s just silly. At least there was a duo of high school boys who took it upon themselves to try and block the girls so they wouldn’t be knock around. I guess gentlemen like the Fratellis too.
The show closed all too quickly with “Milk and Money,” an out of character piano ballad which progresses into a rock-out session. As the band left the stage, makeshift stars lit up the background, which were as cheesy as the annoyingly blinding lights.
The first encore was just guitarist Jon singing my new favorite, “Baby Doll.” I never thought the singers of “Chelsea Dagger” could make my heart melt, but I guess I’m just a sucker for a guy and his guitar wearing a “Come Together” shirt with a peace sign. It would have been an intimate moment had those same guys not been singing along loudly and dancing around, which was pretty rude to the band.
Then the rest of the band joined him for the crowd pleasers “Flathead” and “Baby Fratelli.” Though the show felt much too short, it ended on a high note–Mince (the drummer) threw his drum sticks into the crowd and I actually caught one, a concert first.
