Live Review: Bombay Bicycle Club - South Facing Festival, Crystal Palace Bowl, London 05/08/2022
Bombay Bicycle Club returned to their home turf for a sensational headline slot at South Facing Festival, held at Crystal Palace Bowl.
With a stage floating on a moat and nestled into a natural amphitheatre, it was the perfect location for a late summer festival, oozing with charm and boasting fantastic acoustics.
Legends have been playing at the iconic South London spot for over half a century, including Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, and The Beach Boys to name a few.
Following in their wake for the second weekend of the popular alternative festival were West Londoner Nilüfer Yanya, New Zealand-native-turned-Londoner Jordan Rakei, and indie headliners Bombay.
The first act of the day Nilüfer brought laidback cool and scuzzy female rock to the Bowl, her mood-fuelled, soulful bops warming the already-building crowd.
L/R from her recently released album 'Painless', was a dreamy highlight for the sunny evening and she also paid homage to PJ Harvey with a cover of ‘Rid’, supported by a stellar turn from her saxophonist.
Tom Misch and Loyle Carner collaborator Jordan Rakei gave the dance-hungry crowd plenty of jazzy and juicy basslines to groove to.
The soul and R'n'B multi-instrumentalist was assisted by a full band, including a bongo player he introduced repeatedly to rapturous applause.
It was virtually impossible to keep still as Rakei moved effortlessly between genres and exhibited his passion and musical skill, explaining and demonstrating a childhood love for reggae at one point, then sliding into a funk song the next.
He seemed a musician at total ease, at one point asking the crowd if they had any requests - so competent and confident he was ready to pivot in any direction next. The experience felt more like sitting in on a long, live jam session rather than listening to a musician rolling out their hits.
Rakei possesses that magical trait of making his music sound even better live than on record - his songs take on a life of their own when heard IRL, as you would expect soul and jazz tracks to sound. Each note seemed bigger, bass slap harder and each song fuller, as if the breathing room of the amphitheatre bolstered them somehow.
When headliners Bombay Bicycle Club took to the stage, the sun was setting, the Bowl was full to the brim, and the crowd were ready.
Fresh from a slew of smaller gigs in the UK and the festival circuit, the band seemed equally excited, energised and raring to go.
They leapt straight into an expertly balanced set list, featuring all their cherished hits from the past 15 years.
Kicking off with ‘Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)’ a blast of confetti streamers fully announced their arrival and set the tone for the performance - this was going to be a show to make you move and dance.
Fan favourite ‘Shuffle’ further ignited the crowd’s energy, with its looping playful and off-kilter piano sample.
Each track felt supercharged thanks to the stellar backing musicians joining Bombay on stage - the band are renowned for their multiple instrumentation and this show was no exception.
The hooky samples and layered harmonies that fuel their nuanced style of indie were complimented by a brass and horns section, who helped to bring their more dancy songs to life.
‘Feel’ was a notable highlight and a moment for the horn section to shine, illuminating the Indian-inspired melody in unison with the guitars - a moment so beloved by the crowd they sang along to it in the same way they would treasured lyrics.
The band’s hypnotic melodies and ‘mood-songs-with-meaning’ are their strength, songs like ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ sound like a quiet confession between lovers.
They aren’t stadium powerhouses, but that’s their superpower - their songs have a sense of depth and magic best heard in more intimate venues like the Bowl.
Synthy stoic hit ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ was introed by guitarist Jamie MacColl, who proclaimed: ‘This is a song about turning it all around. When everything’s gone to shit, you listen to your favourite record.”
This commentary felt poignant after the global chaos of the past few years and was certainly an echoed sentiment when you looked around at the beaming crowd - especially when lead singer Jack sang out the lyric: ‘I guess I've found my peace again, I guess I've found my second wind.’
If ever there was a reminder of the alchemy of music and its effect on people, this was it - both the band and crowd were ecstatic.
‘All I can say is we’ve missed you very much’, lead singer Jack confessed, adding to the tangible undercurrent of nostalgia building throughout the show.
The frontman moved like a happy conductor for most of the set, motioning with his hands to the crowd and giving them cues on when to sing along at times.
During more instrumental moments, he was dancing with his whole body to each beat, riff and note, undoubtedly in his flow state.
The crowd were instructed ‘to go really crazy’ shortly before the foursome dove into 2008’s ‘Evening, Morning’.
This was one of their early tracks that started it all and one of their heaviest, with thrashing drums and roving riffs.
They held the song’s memorable three-second pause for a few beats longer, giving frontman Jack a chance to take in the moment, before crashing into a very satisfying and harder outro, a moment he went on to call ‘beautiful’.
The band then went from one of their oldest songs to their newest, debuting new track ‘I Want To Be Your Only Pet’, an alternative and experimental tune in keeping with their ever-developing and influenced sound.
Full of distorted reverbing vocals and a meandering sitar-like guitar, the song went down a storm.
‘Good Day’ was played seamlessly into ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep’, further demonstrating their range and synchronicity as a band.
Another standout moment was the band’s cover of Selena Gomez’s 'Lose You To Love Me', which began with a beautiful cascading Paul Simon-esque guitar à la ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’. For the penultimate song they fired up ‘Carry me Home’, the synthy dance track from 2014’s ‘So Long, See You Tomorrow’.
Guitarist Jamie called to the crowd, “This song’s about being carried by the people you love - so I want you to turn to the person next to you and put them on your shoulders,” as a sea of people clambered on top of each other. For their encore song, they signed off their homecoming gig with another track that began it all - ‘Always Like This’ - their most played on Spotify.
The trumpets and brass section fired up one more time, followed by the confetti cannon, as the crowd had their final boogie in the Bowl.
Words by Monique Hall
Photography by Abigail Shii
