GALLERY/REVIEW: BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB live in Vancouver…includes random Yannis from FOALS!

FACT: When I was living in London I used to order from the Bombay Bicycle Club curry shop regularly. Their papadums almost always arrived soggy.

FACT: There is a London band named after a chain of curry shops.

FACT: This is about them.

Anyway. Bit of an ebb and flow show for Bombay Bicycle Club at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver on February 21^st.

All the ingredients were there: a full, young, perky crowd singing along, great energy and smiles from the six-piece, and a rad start with “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep” flowing into “Your Eyes”. They’ve got a nice wooshy early-90s shoegaze-mushed-with-pop-and-folk-sound. Their latest album, A Different Fix was pretty good. Guitarist Jamie ably encouraged the kids to clap, and they did! There was genuine love for Vancouver: “I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to get here,” said Jack the Polite Lead Singer, and, later, “We had one of the best days off. I know it’s cheesy but we rented tandem bicycles and went around Stanley Park. And some of us took a floatplane. It’s beautiful here.” Lovely chaps, the BBC.

But after a few songs of it, something became apparent: they’ve got just a few songs of it. In turns, things started to sound…eep, samey.

So it was like being on a see-saw: Woo! I like them!/Hmm, I’m a bit bored/Woo! I like them again!/Hmm, think I’ll check my phone/Woo! Rockin’ out!/

Hmm…oh my gods, is that Yannis Philippakis from one of my fave UK band the FOALS hanging out by the bar? CHRIST! IT IS! TO THE BAR!

(Whereupon I promptly ended up in a fun conversation with Yannis about why he was in town. First, he said “mates” until I said: “you’re here for a girl, right?” at which point he looked a bit bashful, smiled and mumbled “yeah”. We talked about the last time he was in town – last May when he checked out Yeasayer. And he he asked me: “Hey, didn’t you write something about us last time we played here?”. Oh you mean this review of when Foals had a mental breakdown on stage and I called you on it over Twitter? YES. YES I DID WRITE THAT.”I thought you had lost the plot,” I said. “Nah, we’re just psycho,” he said with a devillish grin. And I believe him.)

Anyway, you get the gist. The BBC certainly gave it, were good enough, I dug ’em. Then I ran into Yannis. Which I dug more. Sorry, Beeb! \m/