The Fratellis supported by Figure 5 - Birmingham Carling Academy - 28.02.07 Figure 5 Let it be said now, when this band emerged from the side of the stage, I wasn’t expecting much. Not only had I never heard of them, but they looked like just another embarrassing pub band picked purposely to stand on a stage for half an hour and make The Fratellis look better. I had, pretty much, dismissed them by the first pounding beats of their opening song ‘Rally The Troops’. Yet, this was some fabulous drumming and I was finding it hard to keep my feet still. And so was the crowd: heads bobbing, a teeny mosh, clapping, and dancing. This band was only on their first song! I’ll admit it now, this is some of the catchiest music out there, faintly Kaiser Chief-esque with the lead singer being extremely Ricky Wilson-esque in both sound and mannerisms minus ‘the pogo’, but definitely more loud and proud. It just seems to take you over. On first listening, you slightly disregard it with the basic rhymes and the general look of the band, but by the end of the song you are totally hooked. Their thankfulness to be there, and general appreciation towards the crowd was refreshing and you truly feel they deserve your support as they have earned it and will respect it. Not only that but this was an experienced band who obviously knew what they were doing and all pros on theirs instruments, therefore the music is exceptional. All I can say is England look out: this is a truly decent band that hit all of the right buttons; however, work on their image and art work wouldn’t hurt. The Fratellis After Figure 5 had entertained the crowd sufficiently whilst the Scottish legend that is The Fratellis were warming up, we had a little slideshow to entertain us in the break, with ‘Mon The Fratellis’ super imposed on famous pictures, such as ‘The Mona Lisa’. And then of course, a dramatic entrance, or as dramatic as you can get bearing in mind the size of Birmingham Academy, was on the cards shown by the presence of the ‘inconspicuous’ bright white curtain masking the stage. Sure enough, they kicked off the show after the curtain fell to the floor and raised the roof with ‘Henrietta’ to start off rather nicely. The Fratellis gave the venue a real festival feel: they had flags, graffiti, homemade t-shirts from fans and the set was really quite animated for a band consisting only of three people. As the concert progressed the crowd was entertained by not only the additive sounds of the band, but by animated versions of their album art work behind them on large screens, which only contributed to make the concert even better. They whipped the crowd up by performing their most popular and vivacious songs from the album: ‘Chelsea Dagger’, ‘Creeping Up The Backstairs’ and ‘Got Ma Nuts From A Hippie’ The concert was rounded off with an encore of ‘For The Girl’ performed acoustically by lead singer and guitarist Jon Fratelli, followed by ‘Cuntry Boys And City Girls’ with the rest of the band at maximum noise level. If that wasn’t enough, they then covered Goldfrapp’s single ‘Ohh La La’ which came as a total surprise to the crowd, partly because it seemed such an odd song to sing being a totally different genre of music and sung by a woman. It took about a verse and chorus for anyone to decide they liked it, and the simplicity of the song was favoured by the crowd as it allowed everyone to chant ‘Ohh la la la la !’ at the highest possible volume and give The Fratellis the send off they truly deserved. Overall this was a fabulous concert: welcoming, fun, all encompassing, loud, and confidently performed by two surprisingly humble bands who just loved being there. I would give anything to see these bands again, and look forward to seeing Figure 5 in the future. MON THE FRATELLIS!!!! The Debut album, ‘Costello Music’ is out now, and features such hits as ‘Chelsea Dagger’, ‘Whistle For The Choir’ and ‘Flathead’, the single currently being used in the new iPod adverts. | 
