Farro + Natives @ Mama Roux’s, 24th November, 2016
Before I start I have to admit that I had never listened to Farro until a couple of days before the show. Yes, I knew who the guy was but I guess his music never ended up on my radar; I was intrigued though and what I listened to I did like.
After grabbing a quick chat with the man himself at The Old Crown I headed on down to Mama Roux’s to check out the support. I got there in time to see Natives and I honestly wasn’t quite sure what to make of the band from the New Forest. Their Facebook bio describes them as a Tribal Pop Punk band which is fairly apt, in fact its almost like a less synthy version of a Nu-Rave band.
They look like they’ve all raided the local, slightly hippy charity shop and I think if they were to play a festival and I was slightly drunk I probably would have enjoyed them more but it all seems a bit too much. I do appreciate the amount of percussion in some of their songs but the vocals are not the strongest. Its a cool concept but just not quite there…
I guess I expected a few more people to be at the show tonight, its a sparse crowd which is a shame because Farro certainly are a decent band. Fronted by ex-Paramore member Josh Farro they play soft and they play hard and put in a great performance sprinkled with some seriously outstanding moments.
With minimal lighting, just a projected image across the band members they kick straight into ‘On a Wire’. The track ‘Dear Love’ has a serious The Front Bottoms vibe with its keyboard and guitar melodies. There’s a new track thrown in early on which I miss the name of but its sounds great and complete with some serious tambourine action from the drummer.
‘Islands’ is a ‘Slow sad one’, a serious slow-burner that gains some serious momentum and when it kicks in it seriously kicks in! Things then take a turn for the amazing as Josh is left on stage with just his keyboardist and bassist who provide the harmonies on a beautiful acapella version of ‘Home’ and if you thought that was good they follow it with a spine-tingling cover of Fleet Foxes ‘White Winter Hymnal’.
Its not the only cover that gets played tonight, its no secret that Josh is a huge fan of Coldplay so it makes sense that they would cover a Coldplay song this evening. One more new one which includes a little dance competition for a t-shirt and its all over.
I’m definitely glad I went along this evening, Farro were much better than expected and I like to be won over by new bands so hats off to the guys. Chances are they will be playing festivals next year and hopefully a few more UK tour dates as well.
Reviewer – Hannah Sebestjanowicz
Photographer – Adriana Vasile