Live Review: Feeder - O2 Brixton Academy, London 06/05/2022
Feeder’s ‘Torpedo’ tour had its final stop at Brixton Academy, revealing an emotional accumulation of the band’s history, as well as showcasing their present greatness.
“We’re Grungers, we play rock and roll.” So lead singer Matt introduced the opening five-piece of the night. He scowled his way through songs like ‘Straighty 180’, while early birds were invited to ‘Drink The Worm’, the last song of their short but strong set.
Another quintet, The Wild Things, followed the changeover, and played great rock music with classic 80s-style vibes, including ‘Only Attraction’ and finale ‘Drunk Again’. Singer Sydney Rae White revealed it was her fifth wedding anniversary to guitarist Rob Kendrick, and confirmed he “isn’t a fuckhead” before playing a song about how some men can be.
But it’s Feeder who have come to tell their stories to the thousands, bringing young and old together in an embrace of emotion and straight up rock music. Grant Nicholas leads from the front, while ever-present bassist Taka Hirose is a bundle of energy throughout. It’s the third five-piece of the night, fused together with Geoff on drums, Tommy on guitar, and CC on keys.
While feeling has no timeframe, the band’s show is loosely divided by different phases of their history. The opening is packed with five ‘Torpedo’ tracks, leading with ‘The Healing’ and the riff-ruled ‘Magpie’, as well as three tracks from previous album ‘Tallulah’.
Grant calls for the crowd to be “proper old school style” before ‘Born To Love You’, which has the fuel that drove Feeder through the 00s. It made sense placed on the setlist next to 2005’s ‘Feeling A Moment’, a poignant moment that fits in almost anywhere across the band’s storied career.
One of the set’s most magical moments comes from 2019’s ‘Fear of Flying’, earning its place amongst the band’s other classics. It comes alive as the crowd, dubbed “rock and roll angels” by Grant, sing back the ‘oh-oh, oh-oh’ they have just rehearsed.
The latter part of the main 80-minute set is a 90s-era show, ruled by tracks like ‘Radiation’ and ‘Insomnia’ which still prove to be vital to a 21st-century crowd. The main set ends on a ‘High’, Grant sitting on the edge of the stage, soaking up the magnitude of the occasion, while the crowd sang back the chorus several times.
The encore is the sound of the ‘Echo Park’ era two decades later. Grant revealed plans to drop ‘Buck Rogers’ from Feeder’s live shows because they’d played it so much. Everyone is grateful they didn’t – it creates a cacophony of jubilation, moshing, and people singing “CD player, player, player, player”.
Closer ‘Just A Day’ came with an extended outro, before the band’s members soaked up the adulation and posed for a customary on-stage photo.
Whether it’s the ‘Polythene’ days of the 1990s, or their more recent material, Feeder’s option to embrace the loud and fuzzy is on full display throughout. Their songs might not have all become as ubiquitous as top five single ‘Buck Rogers’ – which Grant said “put Feeder on the supermarket shelves” – but they’re just as worthy of recognition.
The band’s momentum took them racing, whether its back through their rich history, or forwards through the best of ‘Torpedo’. Whatever Feeder do, they deliver greatness, drenched in their trademark emotion and feeling. At certain times, this show could have been in the past, but it felt necessary for 2022 too. Collectively, it’s what we needed right now, and that’s all you can ask for.
Words by Samuel Draper
