Two years ago Noah and the Whale performed on a day-time stage at the Kendall Calling festival in casual shirts to a small crowd who knew but one of their songs. On Friday, October 21st, the band performed in full suit attire to Lincoln’s crowded Engine Shed with an obvious growth of confidence in their indie-folk style material.
The band, originally from Twickenham, London, started their set with “Give A Little Love” and moved through with their more relaxed melodies, re-visiting old albums with songs such as “Blue Skies”. However, there was little interaction with the audience, and it seems they started to mellow and tire of swaying to a line of songs with a similar rhythm and sensitive lyrics.
Eventually, front man Charlie Fink declared the ‘romantic’ section of the set over and spoke of a previous visit to Lincoln in which they played a more intimate gig as a less well-known band.
Moving onto the ‘party’ part of the night, the band played “Tonight’s The Kind Of Night” and their ever-popular single “5 Years Time”. Fiddle player and background singer Tom Hobden, flicked his Elvis style quiff of curls and bounced around the stage whilst Fink introduced the band members to the cheering crowd.
After a couple more of their upbeat and popular songs, the band had successfully built up the morale of the audience again, even if it was just a little too close to the end. They ended their set on “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N” with the fans reciting the lyrics and waving arms in the air to the chorus passionately. Hobden ended with a great instrumental climax before the lights flashed and the audience erupted into applause.
The band encored with two more songs, the final being “The First Days Of Spring”, a slower song to bring the evening to a close. The darker green lighting and the view of the band being only their outlines stilled the fans as they repeated the chorus and with a flash of pyrotechnics, they submerged into darkness.
Overall, the performance was commendable – the band had great live vocals, instrumental sections and played all of their well known songs. Their choice of layout for the song set-list caused a lapse in interest from the audience. It was an evening well spent and Noah and the Whale’s status as great musicians cannot be faulted.