8/13/2019 Noah and the Whale @ Islington Assembly Hall review

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oah and the WhaleIslington Assembly Hall, 10th December

As the first song erupted, Tonights the Kind of Night, I knew that tonight would

be the night exceeding my expectations of a band with an undeniable talent, even

after seeing them four times.

The faint background music of Bohemian Rhapsody set the tone for the night as it was

overtaken by the 500 Noah-devotees collectively belting out every lyric as they awaited the

one-off, homecoming show, marking the end of the Heart of Nowhere tour.

The show took place in the Heart of Islingtonstylish Upper Streetat a stunning,

intimate venue adjoining the town hall. This setting was a pleasant change from their

support for Vampire Weekend at the O2 amongst 20,000 people just a few weeks before.

Before long: Fred, Michael, Urby, Tom and Charlie (in their customarily formal attire) took

to the stage. The first surprise of the evening was hearing the first live performance of 2

Bodies 1 Heart since2009 following its single release. Originally recorded with Laura

Marling, this song follows the story of the first stages of being in love where a strong

attachment is felt towards that one person. It features the lyric two atoms in a molecule,

inseparably combined, like a piece of rope made out of two pieces of vine.This was

preceded by a song from their debut album, 2 Atoms in A Molecule to which the words

8/13/2019 Noah and the Whale @ Islington Assembly Hall review

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similarly appear in. This shows how original we are with the song writing. remarkedthe

lead singer, Charlie Fink.

It wasnt long before the famous four chords introducing5 Years Timelit up the room.

Most people would associate Noah and the Whale with this song, their first top ten hit,

guaranteed to get every member of the crowd imitating the dance moves in the officialmusic video on YouTube. Then, Charlie promptly swapped his classic white Fender for the

acoustic. It was time for Old Joy. The contented vibes of this beautiful song allowed time

for the audience to catch their breath. Then, with eight songs down, Charlie muttered

thats the end of our set; the rest is up to you. This was the next surprise.

Suddenly a giant, multi-coloured and inflatable beach ball appeared on set. It was thrown

into the crowd and whoever caught it could request any song off their 4 LPs. Instantly my

favourite song, Life is Life, came to mind just in case I would be the lucky receiver.

Thankfully every song chosen brought an ideal balance of the latest hits and the old classics

which seemed to please everybody, especially me as this included my preference.

What seemed like the final song was decided democratically between First Days of Spring

or Give It All Back to which the firstoption received the most cheers. It is the mind-

blowing opening track of the second album which adopted the same title. The enthralling

violin solo left not a dry eye as the quintet left for the encore.

Uproar then spurred their return onto the stage to which the boys made the decision to play

both songs. This brought about the third and final surprise.I'd give it all back just to do it

again perfectly articulated the emotions of the entire crowd, all of whom would be

diagnosed with post-gig depression for a substantial time-period in the coming months asthe band work on their next album. Hopefully the symptoms wont last too long.

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