#22//WU LYF//Heaven//London//Wednesday 21st March

Some of you may remember that i saw WU LYF play towards the end of last year at Shepard's Bush Empire. That gig went down as the second best live performance i had witnessed all year, that is some praise considering i must get through about 80 gigs a year, they were only bettered in my opinion by The Strokes set at Benicassim in the summer and you must take into account that i'm a Strokes obsessive and that night they played the greatest, greatest hits set anyone is ever likely to see them play. So you can imagine i was very much looking forward to seeing this band again.

SET LIST

1, Cave song

2, Summas Bliss

3, Such a sad puppy dog

4, Spitting blood

5, Dirt

6, Krusty (papa m cover)

7, Concrete gold

8, 14 crowns for me and your friends

9, Heavy pop

Encore

10, Unknown

11, We bros

I should probably start by saying that Heaven has got to be the perfect place to see WU LYF, it's very intimate, it's all exposed brick walls and it's within railway arches deep under Charing Cross Station, it's beautifully, eerily lit and suits the drama that the band produce down to a T.
I have always thought of WU LYF as more than just a band, to me they are like a cult, the huge throbbing neon crucifix that accompanies them on stage, the smoke that fills the room, the organ led sermon like tunes that build and build into blissed out euphoria, not to mention the vocals that are delivered with such ferocity like a preacher spitting down prophecies to his disciples. Even down to the merchandise on sale, all pins, tees and sew on patches emblazoned with the iconic crucifix image, heck i got so caught up in it that i even bought one to stick on my denim jacket, i'm more than happy to be a disciple.

Tonight's set was great, the close setting suiting the band much more than some enormodome, every song was met with deep approval by the enraptured crowd and there was plenty of raving and crowdsurfing to some of the more uplifting moments, personal highlights for me on the night were:
'Spitting blood' http://youtu.be/pDTEhWO2wyo,
'Heavy pop' http://youtu.be/SvsHJjldYW8
And finally i just cannot get enough of the pure elation of 'We bros' http://youtu.be/AaZ4voI4zA4
Click on the links and have a listen to these tracks yourself.

NITTY GRITTY

Crowd: lot of cool kids, mixture of ages, i was actually impressed by the number of older people in the audience, i guess this reflects the quite sophisticated sound of such a young band.
Venue: Heaven is one of the best small venues in London and i cant recommend it enough for live music.
Drinks: Same as most places really but it still pisses me off that venues charge you nearly four quid for a fucking CAN of beer.
So WU LYF, cool customers? Real deal? Or just a hyped gimmick?: The hype that surrounded this band at the beginning has been totally justified, they are instantly recognisable, they have a great individual sound and are really intelligent accomplished artists, in fact the only down side to the whole night was hearing Ellery Roberts state that unless they decide they have something important to say then these would be their last gigs, i wouldnt put this past a band that has always like to to do what is least expected of them but i for one hope they keep going because there is no one else like them out there today.

ACE FACE
Kassandra Powell, director from Greece

Hey Kassandra! So what did you think of tonight??

I loved it Dan, awesome live performance, great vocals, i can't understand a word the guy is saying but that doesn't matter, it all adds to it for me and there was a really good vibe about the crowd.

What is your fave track?

Cave song, no doubt, i loved it from the moment you first played it to me.

Have you been into them for long?

I haven't actually, you turned me onto them recently and this was my first gig since i have been in London, i'm hooked!!

Who else do you like at the moment?

For me there is no one else but The Horrors.

And finally, what was the last tune you played on your Ipod??

Heartbeats, the original version by The Knife.

Great choice, cheers Kass!!

Stay tuned to Dan In The Front Row for upcoming shows from The Rifles, Bombay bicycle club and many many more, contact me on dannywoodlands@yahoo.co.uk xxx