Fyfe Dangerfield

Reviews

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  Q Music Night - Fyfe D...

  by Shannon Andreucci

  on Fri, 12 Mar at 09:42

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  When I first heard the name Fyfe Dangerfield my mind couldn’t help but conjure up images of a val...

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  When I first heard the name Fyfe Dangerfield my mind couldn’t help but conjure up images of a valiant Superhero, an American porn star or a hardcore biker.

  But when I got to the gig at London’s Hard Rock Cafe the other night I realised Fyfe Dangerfield was neither a superhero nor a brutal biker – but rather just an honest 29 year old man in a casual suit playing beautiful music in front of an audience- and playing it damn well!

  I have a little theory when it comes to live gigs and it goes a little like this: The more instruments you see on stage, the better the performance is likely to be. Upon arrival I could see 4 different guitars, a keyboard and 2 violins waiting on stage all for this one solo artist so I was anticipating a quality performance from Mr Fyfe. I was not disappointed in the slightest.

  Fyfe Dangerfield took to the highly esteemed Hard Rock Cafe stage and eased into his exquisite set of songs taken from his new solo album “Fly Yellow Moon.” The founding member of Guillemots seized the audience’s attention from the very first song “Livewire” and held it right through to the end of his hour and a half long showcase.

  After setting the mood for the evening with a handful of achingly lovely guitar-based tunes including “When You Walk In The Room” and “Faster Than The Setting Sun,” the talented musician launched into the slow burning piano ballad “Firebird” and welcomed on to the stage his elegant string players. The vibe and tempo of the performance progressed throughout the set and before we knew it Fyfe was playing his piano and simultaneously head banging to the beat – at one point I was helplessly cringing at the sight of his head vigorously swaying back and forth as I thought it was just a matter of time before his cranium went flying into the microphone.

  Fyfe seemed quite determined to playfully taunt himself for bringing his serene string players, love ballads and contemporary pop music onto the renowned Hard Rock Cafe stage that has hosted the likes of Stereophonics, Fratellis and The Editors. In between songs he would take a sip from his conservative bottled water, sigh and sarcastically say: “How rock’n’roll of me. Strathmore!” or point above at the Mitch Mitchell drum kit and say “If you wanted rock tonight, it’s up there.”

  Regardless of his incessant self-inflicted insults, I think Fyfe Dangerfield did the prestigious Hard Rock Cafe - which is lined with legendary rock memorabilia - very proud.

  I particularly enjoyed his re-arranged cover of Girls Aloud’s “Call The Shots”, which he confessed he’d had to re-learn from online Youtube clips of himself earlier that day. It was a clever and thoroughly enjoyable rendition, which the crowd seemed to appreciate too. Another thing the audience seemed to appreciate was the neverending supply of free spring rolls, chicken tenders and and mini burgers that the Hard Rock Cafe provided on silver platters for this very special Q The Music Club event.

  Fyfe Dangerfield personified charisma not only in his stage presence and musical talent but also in his interaction and engagement with the crowd. In between every song he would stop to have a chat with the audience. I’m not sure if this was merely a mechanism to distract us whilst he was tuning his guitar or relocating to the keyboard but nevertheless it was entertaining.

  Clearly enjoying himself, Fyfe enlightened us with a short anecdote about his interesting taxi ride to the gig that evening. The tale involved a self-assured cab driver who asked to take a leak in Fyfe’s bathroom and also forced him to listen to his homemade techno music mix tapes.

  Even though I feel he underplayed the encore feature of his performance, to the point that it might as well have been completely omitted, all in all it was a fantastic, engaging gig, a great showcase of contemporary song writing with beautiful vocals and a clever use of instruments.

  Q Music Night - Fyfe D...0.3 event