Çarşamba 7 Kas 2007, 13:51

Tue 6 Nov – The Fray Hammersmith Apollo 6th Nov

We arrived earlier than I normally would for a concert - with one aim. To get to the front, but even over an hour before doors opened there were at least 20 people in front of us.

Eventually we were let in. After sitting in the cold and with excitement almost killing us we ran (when no-one could see us) to the front and placed ourselves directly in front of Dave.

Terra Naomi came on slightly past 8 and performed a 6-ish song set with an extremely strong and overwhelming voice, but she failed to win my liking. I won't deny she is good though. During her set the people behind us pushed us forward when we could go no further and kept touching me everywhere possible - feet, back, head etc.
Her set was so loud that I went partially deaf in my right ear but I could handle that, the Fray was coming on soon. It wouldn't dampen the mood.

Later on, after setup and a few false screams from the crowd for the Roadies they mistook for band members and an extended entrance the band came on and immediately started with All At Once followed by She Is (the set list goes hazy from here forwards). There were some camera flashes obviously, some from myself. But the concert was underway and was being enjoyed by all. The first new song of the night was Isaac's called either Honesty or You Found Me. He stated that the follow up album was in the process of being made and that they were taking a break for the European Tour.

A few songs later, including Fall Away, Little House, Vienna, Trust Me, Heaven Forbid, Another of Isaac's new songs and an acknowledgement that the band could see the front row. Joe made a comment about how we were the most dedicated fans and the man in the front row with a bandage on his hand was still clapping although it was clearly painful in his face. There were possibly more songs. The final song in this part was How To Save A Life, the crowd favourite. The normal live extended version followed where Isaac left the singing to the crowd for the last part (The song was filmed by Rod so possibly in a tour blog?). Then the encore came.

There was a mass of chanting for the band to come back on stage and eventually Isaac emerged to play Hundred quickly stating that the crowd the night before was a "solid seven" and that we were better than them (cue more screaming right in my ear). During the piano intro there was increasing clapping and screaming from the crowd until he stopped to sing when it reached its peak. He looked down and shook his head in disbelief- it really was that loud and crazy. The song continued and silence fell upon the crowd apart from an annoying bunch behind me spoiling one of my favourite songs as it was spoiled the time previously. Followed by Joe's new song and Over My Head. A completely flawless performance, if lacking some crowd interaction.

The set list however disappointed me slightly. I was looking forward to hearing a couple more of Joe's songs - Dixie and an untitled one. The concert even lacked the crowd on stage for Over My Head and the humorous cover of Hip's Don't Lie! The fact that they ran out of t-shirts when I went to buy one disappointed me a lot, not the best way to end the evening.

Overall it was an amazing night. I'm sure the people there would agree with me.