Live Review: Local Natives - Electric Brixton, London 16/10/2019
Just six months after their last visit to these grey shores, Local Natives released their third album ‘Violet Street’ and took to Electric Brixton for the penultimate date in their Spiral Choir tour.
With songs that are filled with a plethora of eccentricities and multi-layered elements, there is a hypnotism that comes with Local Natives’ live shows, and of which was perfectly executed in the opening moments of ‘Vogue’. Wasting no time in amassing all of their energies, the band dug deep into their back catalogue for the wildly spirited ‘Sun Hands’ which is taken from their 2009 debut album ‘Gorilla Manor’ – the delivery was of how you’d expect a band to close their set, not open it – and by bleeding the song straight into ‘Ceilings’, Local Natives held the crowd like putty in their hands.
As multi-instrumentalists; its wonderous to watch the band subtly swap their weapons on the stage without missing a beat, and all the while maintaining charm and perfection. Keeping their setlist balanced between all of their albums; Local Natives ran through newer songs like ‘Café Amarillo’ and ‘Garden of Elysian’ as well as the standalone single ‘I Saw You Close Your Eyes’ as well as delving into older favourites such as ‘Heavy Feet’, ‘Airplanes’ and ‘Wide Eyes’.
Taking small moments to interact with the crowd Kelcey Ayer announced ‘Megaton Mile’ as: “a song about the apocalypse” asking everybody to “please act accordingly.” Conjuring a moment of solidarity, ‘Fountain of Youth’ felt like a protest song against the social and political circumstances we find ourselves in, country to country. The heavy guitar solo felt like a battle cry, as it followed the mantra-like chorus “we can do whatever we want / we can say whatever we need’ and Taylor Rice affirmed this message: “no matter how fucked up and how crazy the world gets, this is our world and we get to decide.”
When Ryan Hahn takes lead vocals on ‘Dark Days’ there is another eruption from the audience, trumped only by the story of ‘When Am I Gonna Lose You’ – where Taylor explains that the song was written when he was dating somebody and feeling like “it was too good to be true, that I would fuck it up.” The moment that made everybody go wild was when he announced that they got married last year, and are now expecting a baby. These small details make the song even more poignant and romantic.
Sauntering off the stage for a few moments, Local Natives returned for an encore of ‘Shy’, ‘Tap Dancer’ and ‘Who Knows, Who Cares’. They’re the kind of band that with such a strong back catalogue and tight-knit stage presence, that it almost doesn’t matter what songs they play because you’re guaranteed to be taken into a state of aural perfection. Aided by a stunning light show and crisp harmonies, Local Natives delivered one of the best live shows that we’ve seen all year.
Words by Tyler Damara Kelly and Photography by Milly McAlister