White Lies

One of few bands from the noughties' indie scene still going strong today, it’s apt that White Lies’ fourth LP is titled Friends – as a packed out Waterfront awaits their arrival, the air buzzes with a passion that can only come from long time fans.

Newcomers Anteros provide a glamorous warm-up with their sugary pop hits. Their sound is characteristic of contemporary Britpop; newest single Drunk bristles with the same feisty energy as Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out. From their 2016 ‘ Breakfast EP, Ring Ring holds hints of Roxy Music, and Bonnie, with 80s power ballad guitars, could come straight from an early Madonna album.

It’s been a while since White Lies have come to town, and whilst Friends, their first new material since 2014, takes pride of place in the set tonight, it’s the oldies their audience is most eager for. Following the flickering vigour of Take It Out On Me, the hits come thick and fast. With a booming chorus, To Lose My Life ups the energy, and Farewell To the Fairground sounds daisy fresh a mere eight years after breaking the Top 40.

The elephant in the room is that tonight’s show was downgraded from the LCR. “The last time we were in this venue was 2008”, vocalist Harry McVeigh recalls, of the now defunct NME Shockwaves tour, with Crystal Castles and Friendly Fires. It’s a crying shame, as such enormous songs would benefit hugely from a bigger auditorium, but that’s the price of taking a few years out from the gig circuit. Nonetheless, “to see these rooms so full really means a lot to us”, he continues, to huge applause.

The sound quality may suffer, but the energy doesn’t. McVeigh and bassist Charles Cave move loosely, but in machine-like synchrony. After years of playing these songs, every motion comes automatically, and by the time Bigger Than Us comes around, celestial and glorious under bright white lights, not one person in the room isn’t giving their all too.