Live Review: Love Fame Tragedy - Heaven, London 03/03/2020
You could assume Matthew Murphy has matured since his Wombats heyday of the mid 2000’s; but his solo alias Love Fame Tragedy shows he still has that boyish charm, albeit more refined, that connects with so many people whatever the age.
But before I continue with Murph’s biggest solo show to date, there were two acts before in support of LFT, so let’s talk about them. Kicking off the night were Full Colour, a Halifax 5-piece that have supported LFT right from the start. The band have supported a good handful of big indie bands lately, and tonight it was easy to see why.
Now I’ll be honest, when I think bedroom-pop, I don’t tend to think of huge energy. Next up however proved me wrong with what was the most energetic slice of bedroom-pop I’ve seen. It came in the form of Oscar Lang (and his “Wang Gang”). With the hype Oscar is generating and the speed he’s gathering, you’ll probably hear his name plenty this year (maybe not so much the Wang Gang part though... for obvious reasons). Energetic songs are coupled with Oscar’s nonchalant vibe to perfection. It’s a mix that has to be seen to be believed really, how does someone seem chill but then erratic at the same time? Go and see Oscar and he’ll sure show you.
Now you’ve had your starters, I give you the main course...
Love Fame Tragedy came on to the obvious elation and cheers from the crowd, to which he greeted with a wave before heading straight in to opener ‘Backflip’. With an underlying bass line that allows an audience to gently throw themselves in to singing along, this is the perfect opener.
Sure it’s only the second UK tour for LFT, but Murph’s vast frontman experience has him effortlessly switching in to a punching guitar to rope the crowd in for ‘Hardcore’. The change of tone allows the lustful lyrics to give Murph a sense of swagger he had not previously shown much before.
Unreleased song ‘5150’ came to an excitable audience, although the emotion may have come from Murph revealing an album was on the way in the summer as he introduced the song. Throughout his career, the topic of mental health has never been shied away from, and this song is no exception. The term 5150 coming from the Californian code to someone breaking out of a mental institution. This wasn’t the only only treat to new music we got of course, with other tracks entitled ‘Sharks’, ‘B-Team’, and ‘Everything Affects Me Now’. Along with the elusive ‘Multiply’ of course...
If you’ve followed LFT from the start you’ll have heard about ‘Multiply’ and the constant teasing about it actually being released. It was debuted at Reading and Leeds last year. Hearing it live tonight just brought me aboard the fanfare for wanting to hear it a lot more in the form of a single.
Along with the taste of what’s to come for the project, we still got what’s known as “the hits” (even if the project is a year old…). The tunes culminated in a rather X-rated request from a fan, to which Murph admitted he’d never been asked to do at a gig before; I’ll let your imagination help you decide what he was asked to do. The night ended on the debut single from LFT, the beautiful banger of ‘My Cheating Heart’. It was clear to hear there were plenty of fans of this one in the room, as the battle between the fans and the speakers is exactly what you love to hear at the end of a gig.
Murph has shown how much his songwriting has evolved from the early Wombats days, and also his more slick showmanship. Whilst appearing different, there is still an unmistakable metaphor-laden experience that you can only associate with his work. Tonight’s show can only be a triumph and with more music coming imminently, the next tour will only get bigger...
Words and Photography by James Baker