Live Review

Fyfe Dangerfield – Sound Control, Manchester

• 17th Sep 2010

The Boy Who Trapped the Sun is the most complimentary act imaginable to precede Fyfe Dangerfield. Unlike the young and boisterous crowds Fyfe’s band The Guillemots tend to attract, the audience filling the intimate venue are mature and calm. Rather reluctant to let themselves go, the crowd are captivated by the soothing strains of tonight’s opener which, like powerful lullabies, weave an atmosphere of awe and tranquillity which requires nothing more of the audience than looking and listening in wonder.
Despite the reservation in the room, there’s an easily-detectable sense of unrest as time elapses between the two sets and when Fyfe finally graces the stage there’s an uncharacteristically excitable surge forward. He opens with a beautiful acoustic version of ‘Faster Than the Setting Sun’ and proceeds with boundless charisma and charm that woos the entire venue.
Fyfe is joined on stage by the basics of a big band, enchantingly minimalist. With skinny ties and string instruments, the set oozes sophistication, contrasting with Fyfe’s boyish banter when faced with a few technical difficulties. The fan base is so unlike the Guillemot’s following that a few of the band’s tracks go largely unrecognised; though they sound almost like new songs when performed solo, as does Beatles classic ‘The Fool on the Hill’. An enormously talented man, there’s a melancholia to his sound which is brightened by his cheerful stage presence. The sombre set’s pace is picked up with ‘When You Walk In The Room’, followed by ‘She Needs Me’, which finally gets a few heads bobbing and toes tapping.
Unusually. the set finishes as it began, with ‘Faster Than The Setting Sun’ – this time performed by the entire band, making the evening come full circle and leaving everybody with swells of joy in their stomach. Fyfe could not have hoped for a stronger start to his tour, and bring in some new support ahead of the recording of his band’s new album.