Live Review: Alfie Templeman - O2 Kentish Town Forum, London 18/11/2024
Alfie Templeman brings his charm offensive to Kentish Town Forum.
London based indie-pop sensation Alfie Templeman brings his much needed upbeat bops to an excited Kentish Town Forum crowd on a rainy Monday night.
Supporting the release of his second album ‘Radiosoul’ the follow up to his breakout debut ‘Mellow Moon’, it takes in a kaleidoscopic mix of genres in its eclectic mix, from soul and psychedelia to indie and pop.
‘Radiosoul’ features themes of the end of adolescence and has collaborations with legendary producers including Nile Rodgers and Dan Carey. Alfie is a gifted young musician and songwriter who has already had an incredible career at the tender age of just twenty one.
His songs tackle powerful and relatable themes such as hating social media, feeling burnt out through touring, learning to deal with anxiety and panic attacks, and moving out of your parents’ home - all while still trying to figure yourself out. All of these are handled with an irresistible youthful exuberance, particularly when performed live and matched with the enthusiasm of his passionate young fans.
His lyrics often deal with struggling to cope in the baffling modern world, such as in the subtle word play of the lyric: ‘The future tense is too intense’ as he sings on ‘Eyes Wide Shut’. This has a beat and falsetto vocals that are not dissimilar to early Scissor Sisters. His tour ends in London here in suitable style tonight, with a six date European tour to follow.
His second support on the tour comes from Siobhán Winifred who is all upbeat sunny pop, and has been called ‘An artist on the cusp of breaking through’ by Dork magazine in their feature in September. Tonight she performs songs from her debut EP, ‘Don’t Do Well Alone’.
Main support is from SOFY, who delivers 90s rap and hip-hop sounds tinged with playful, witty lyrics. One YouTube commenter called her the “Lily Allen for the Andrew Tate generation”. In one witty aside to the crowd she quips: “This is live theatre, things go wrong”, leading into her popular song ‘Socks’ with its chorus: ‘Morning's brighter when I'm wearing your socks to sleep in, now my life's a Richard Curtis movie’.
SOFY is brilliantly supported by her backing band. After being booked to play a BBC Music Introducing gig in June 2021, SOFY humbly put up a panicked post on Instagram asking if anyone wanted to be in her band. Ed, Will, Sam and James were the first to respond and their chemistry was instant straightaway, and they have been best friends ever since.
Finally bursting onto the stage, Alfie Templeman starts up with ‘3D Feelings’ produced by The Vaccines frontman Justin Hayward-Young, and his influence is heard with the familiar bouncy indie vibe of his band, and it feels impossible to stand still when listening. Alfie tells NME in an interview that “Justin inspired me to write some really cool lyrics for this one, they flow so effortlessly and they’re really fun to sing”.
Self deprecating Alfie quickly opens his set with the statement: “My name is Alfie and today I’m going to try and not butcher my songs!” with an endearing charm.
His laid back groove slacker rock on ‘Beckham’ sees him reel off the places in London he wanted to live, and he exclaims: “If you live in any of these locations you need to shout out, and you are better than everyone else”. The trippy vocals stand out alongside the psychedelic guitar as he sings: ‘Sutton, Bexley, Tooting, Earlsfield, Streatham, Peckham, David Beckham’ to a mesmeric effect.
Telling Dork magazine about his writing style he has hilariously said: “I don’t do many writing sessions anymore apart from with people I have a good relationship with, staying with people I trust who understand my vision. I didn’t want to make it so I was sat in a room amongst a bunch of East London hipsters eating seven quid Pret A Manger sandwiches doing silly writing sessions. That’s not me at all.” This flamboyance is on full display in London as he acknowledges making his fans wait for his late set tonight saying: “Thank you so much for coming tonight, I know it’s late on a Monday night!” which is met with a huge cheer by a crowd who have been totally won over by his charm offensive and loved every second of the show.
Photography by Stefania Semini
Words by Brendan Sharp
