With a new line-up, new songs and a new desire to keep the “non-rock” parts of gigging to a minimum, Future Of The Left 2.0 are setting a new precedent.
With a new line-up, new songs and a new desire to keep the “non-rock” parts of gigging to a minimum, Future Of The Left 2.0 are setting a new precedent. This is a professional fucking rock show, my friends. No flashy lights, no showing off, only a little bit of banter during “enforced gaps in the set (oxygen consolidation/guitar changes)” and a whole lot of nothing but brilliant music.
Of course, had you not been able to see the stage, you might be forgiven for thinking Future Of The Left 2.0 are as much mclusky reincarnated as they are Future Of The Left, given the four – FOUR! – mclusky songs the new four-piece tore through; one for each band member? Quelle surprise, the packed Corner went bananas as soon as the opening notes of To Hell With Good Intentions and Lightsaber Cocksucking Blues rang out. And while I never would have picked it as one of the mclusky songs most likely to be revived, Without MSG I Am Nothing is a personal favourite, so there’s that.
But when the ‘encore’ ‘opened’ with Fuck This Band, words can’t even describe it. A pre-emptive smack down post-emptively played by a new band for an old crowd, it implied that anyone still doubting the new line-up after witnessing that set could kindly shut the fuck up whilst simultaneously reminding all present that Falco (frontman Andy Falkous for those in the cheap seats) is one step ahead of us, at all times.
Of course, this presents a dilemma. After all, this is not mclusky; this is Future Of The Left, with a new line-up that undoubtedly want fans to look forward. Pleasingly, the crowd responded almost as well to the new songs, both heard (I Am The Least of Your Problems and Notes on Achieving Orbit – which can be found in demo form at futureoftheleft75.official.fm) and unheard (Beneath The Waves An Ocean and Polymers Are Forever). It’s a good sign.
Yeah, sure, they also played all the songs you’d expect, if you were a fan: Arming Eritrea, A Plague Of Onces, Manchasm, adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood – the hit parade, if you will. Then closed with an elongated version of Lapsed Catholics (minus Falco’s spoken word intro bit about the devil being Rupert Murdoch).
But that’s not the point.
The point is Future Of The Left played a fucking rock show that, two days into 2011, is already a contender for gig of the year.
