After tuning up their instruments and adjusting the microphone levels, THE WHIGS’ lead singer Parker Gispert looks up towards the sound desk. He fidgets the hair out of his eyes and gives the nod. “We’re ready” is the signal.
From this moment it’s hard to believe that The Whigs are the same band that supported Kings Of Leon at Hyde Park and on their massive arena tour last year. If they learned anything about playing into vast spaces it’s been gloriously thrown out of the window. It’s undoubtedly a spectacle but a million miles away from Kings Of Leon’s distant rock star posturing.
The crowd is impressively full. At first I feared this would be the result of Kings Of Leon fans acting out the role of underground indie loyalists. There was certainly enough ‘Dads in Denim’ to support my suspicions that the majority of people here would be name-dropping the cool alternative band they saw the next morning by the water cooler. However, as the bar remained empty throughout co-headliners The Dead Confederate’s set (a band that sound like Nirvana playing instruments made out of mud), I was forced to reconsider my opinion. Even if most of people here discovered The Whigs playing in aircraft bunkers, no one was here tonight purely to pose.
This feeling appears to flow into The Whigs’ performance. After playing in front of 65,000 people at Hyde Park they could have strolled onstage feeling that the world owed them a favour. Instead they seem determined to make a connection with every single person in the room. Within the first song Julian Dorio’s mind meltingly exceptional drumming makes a huge impression. When you can feel every impossible snare shot reverberate off the walls around you it’s difficult to perceive what this band would have been like emanating into a distant field. Gispert dances across the stage, lurching about like Neil Young possessed by the spirit of a demented frog. Within forty seconds he’s broken a string.
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Despite the obvious abandon it takes a good twenty minutes for Gispert to feel comfortable enough to acknowledge the crowd. When he eventually does he charmingly dedicates a song to The Dead Confederate (“Our brothers”) and makes pains to explain that The Whigs have more albums available than In The Dark which got its official UK release earlier this month. He then moves out of sight to sit at the keyboard on the left of the stage before an unhinged yet tender rendition of Half The World Away from their first record.
After a brilliantly liquid version of recent release Dying, Gispert announces that due to a club night The Whigs are playing to a strict curfew and will have to leave after the next song. It’s a shame as it feels as they’re just on the cusp of a great moment with a real playfulness and swagger becoming apparent in their playing.
Great musical moments stem from spontaneity and The Whigs have certainly retained impulsiveness despite the professionalism of the huge arenas. Even if it didn’t quite happen tonight, if you catch them on this tour chances are that there will be magical and unique moments in abundance. And after touring with the new streamlined Kings Of Leon, that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give them.
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