For 25 years the British Melodic Rock Scene has been a bit of a strange place. Numerous bands, prolific in their output but lacking in that essential 'it' factor. One band that has that 'it' factor in spades are the mighty FM who rolled into town as part of their 'Indiscreet 25' Tour.
In 1986 as Top Gun ruled the UK cinemas and Thatcher and Reagan were carving up the world between them the London based FM released their debut album 'Indiscreet' into a marketplace already ripe to take an album this full of hooks and big chorus' to their hearts.
Many people did and FM were seen as the leading lights on the UK Melodic Rock Scene for a good while.
Fast forward to 25 years later, a recently re-energised FM have taken to the road on the 25th Anniversary of the release of 'Indiscreet' to play the album from Top to Bottom for the first time ever.
As if that wasn't enough there was also the added bonus of two support bands to add to the nights entertainment.
The first act on stage was The Deborah Bonham Band. Featuring the sister of late drumming great John Bonham on vocals the band played a short but tight set of mostly Led Zep influenced numbers. Clearly suffering from a heavy cold Deborah struggled through valiantly but for me the band (and Deborah) truly came to life on their penultimate number of the the set, a lovely, heartfelt throaty ballad that left many people in the audience impressed.
Her backing band were tight (but loose) and Deborah herself is no doubt a very accomplished vocalist when not under the strain of heavy sinuses.
The next band up were, for me, a 'golden ticket' moment. I had been a fan of Romeo's Daughter at the dawn of the nineties and honestly had not listened to them since. When they were announced as the main support I was curious, but not curious enough to dig out my old CD's. I was aware that many had praised them as the 'band of the weekend' at their Firefest reunion gig in 2009 but just wasn't sure.
I'm happy to admit that I was completely mistaken. They were Phenomenal. Simply Phenomenal.
From the moment that they took the stage I was beaming, a rock solid group of songs combined with one of the best female vocalists in the genre in Leigh Matty.
Opening with a track from the new album 'Rapture' the band were confident, assured and quite honestly could easily have been a headline act. The new songs blended perfectly with the old bringing lots of nodding heads from the assembled crowd. Carving the 8 song set up equally between new tracks and old favourites was a gamble and certainly one that I'm sure paid off for the band.
Tony Mitman (looking these days more 'Banker Dad' than 'Wild Child') was still the master of keys providing not only some deft keyboard runs but also some beautiful pad work to the proceedings layering up the sound to be as wonderful as a warm duvet on a cold winter's night.
Without a doubt as the band struck up 'Cry Myself to Sleep at Night' there was a transcendent moment as everyone in the room was transported back to the days when Rock was truly king and yet firmly rooted in the now. A timeless classic of a track that I am ashamed to say had been missing from my musical choices for far too long. A mistake I won't be making again in hurry.
Romeo's Daughter delivered. Pure, unadulterated Adult Oriented Rock. It was a glorious moment for the crowd and seemingly for the band. If (more likely 'when' after the reaction) the band return as a headline act I would strongly suggest you check them out. I can guarantee you that you won't be disappointed.
Romeo's Daughter have returned. May they never leave us again.
Ultimately though as good as they were the night truly belonged to F.M.
The show originally scheduled for the smaller Academy 3 but was moved up to the much larger Academy 2 after strong tickets sales which the band in turn sold out with the ticket touts outside the venue doing brisk business with the walk-up crowd.
The band had a palpable sense of excitement for the tour and for this show particularly and that was more than apparent from the moment they took the stage to the 'Pink Panther' theme intro tape.
From the moment they launched into 'That Girl' the crowd were in their hands. Bobbing and smiling, singing along to every word sung by the golden throated Steve Overland and interacting with the band all the way through the performance.
From 'That Girl' to the final encore of the night 'Hot Legs' a song that the band made their own on their first tour, the interplay between the band and crowd is more akin friends and family than act and paying audience.
There is a lot of love for the band from their fans and this is clearly reciprocated from on stage.
There were several moments throughout the night when telling looks of emotion were exchanged between the band members on stage a particularly fine example being after guitarist Jim Kirkpatrick (replete with 80's-tastic turned up cuffs on his suit jacket) finished one of the many fine solos played by him over the course of the evening and Steve Overland looked over and gave him a look of simple pride. Beautiful.
Kirkpatrick, whilst being a relatively new member of the band is treated as family by the FM masses. Adding a new flavour to familiar guitar lines and a boatload of emotion to his solos.
The band, just before the show began had told the crowd by their Facebook and Twitter page that they had a surprise for us and it was after the closing notes of the band's first hit 'Frozen Heart' (complete with in harmony vocal support from the crowd) that the band revealed what it was. Former keyboard player 'Didge Digital' returned to the stage with FM for a spirited run through Indiscreet's closing track 'Heart of the Matter' a song that is such a perfect example of AOR that it cemented itself as one of my all time favourite songs the moment that i heard way back when. Not content with one 'Keytar' on stage with Mr. Digital, full time keyboardist Gem Davies joined them with his 'Eddie Van Halen Paintjob Keytar' as the band drew the main set to a close.
Honestly, if the band had decided to stop right there then it would have been enough. With classics such as 'American Girls' and the simply sublime 'Face to Face' (a song that brought your humble review to tears with it's majesty) already in the bag they could have left the stage with the punters sated.
They didn't.
Not content with what had already been delivered the band returned to stage for some little played numbers and a smattering of tracks from 1989's 'Tough it Out' album. Drummer Pete Jupp and Bass Player Merv Goldsworthy showed exactly how over 25 years of playing together can form a foundation that simply cannot be moved as they powered through crowd sing-a-long favourite 'Bad Luck'.
As the Outro Tape of the Morecambe and Wise classic 'Bring Me Sunshine' played I turned to see the same expression on the faces of other crowd members as I was all too sure was emblazoned on my own. Pure Unadulterated Bliss.
I have had the privilege of seeing FM approximately 30-40 times over the years at venues big and small all over the country and can honestly say, hand on heart, that this was easily the best gig that I have ever seen them play.
In fact, the whole night was genuinely what musical memories are made of.
FM will be releasing a new DVD 'Live in Europe' on 12th March 2012 which you can purchase from their webstore HERE
Romeo's Daughter have a new album out 'Rapture' available at all good record stores or from the band's website itself HERE
FM's Setlist :-
That Girl
Other Side Of Midnight
Love Lies Dying
I Belong To The Night
American Girl
Hot Wired
Face To Face
Frozen Heart
Heart Of The Matter
Dangerous
Let Love Be The Leader
Tough It Out
Don't Stop
Does It Feel Like Love
Bad Luck
Burning My Heart Down
Hot Legs
