Last night I had the pleasure of seeing Spector live for the first time, up the road at Oxford's O2 Academy. By way of support they had fun sets from local chaps Orange Vision and Bill Ryder-Jones (previously of The Coral). The band finished up their UK tour tonight in London, in support of their recently released second album, Moth Boys. If you don't know Spector by name, you might know this track, Celestine, from their first album Enjoy It While It Lasts.
With frontman Fred Macpherson only singing during the show (rather than the typical band dynamic of frontman playing guitar), I was blown away by his level of showmanship. He was incredibly energetic and constantly trying to involve the crowd - which, though I suspect not quite their usual pushy crowd (a good point from my perspective of the evening), seemed to be enjoying it as much as I did, and it was virtually impossible not to yell back the lyrics to the band's well known tracks such as Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End and Chevy Thunder, as well as many of the newer tracks, which Fred encouraged the crowd early on to sing if they knew the words, and if they didn't) including the final track of the night, the opener of the second record, All The Sad Young Men. His interaction with the crowd being a particular highlight of the night, his joking anecdote about the track coincidentally being written about a Wednesday night gig in Oxford in green lighting, moments that remind us that "sadly, we're alive" was pretty amusing.
Meeting Fred after the show briefly, he seemed like a really down to earth, lovely chap, and told me he used to play in a band with King Charles (after I recalled a tweet from a year or so ago about them sending each other their new albums to listen to). I'd recommend going to see them play if they're near you, but sadly the tour is over now, however I'm sure it won't be long until they're out on the road again!
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