The Feeling Rock Oslo
Oslo in Hackney and a first time visit for this reviewer to watch The Feeling play an intimate trial run of new songs that will form their 5th Album.
A trip up a couple of flights of stairs reveals a small room with stage at one end, bar and a sound desk area appearing to be cut out of the wall at the back. It’s a friendly atmosphere with a range of ages but mostly looking like mums and dads out on a cheeky school night in London, and it's sold out of course because The Feeling would normally pack a bigger venue and they haven’t played London for quite a while. The fans here are the hardcore long term supporters with friends and family.
Backing singer Dani Sylvia Harrison gave a rousing support slot complete with wearing some killer studded leather boots that made her look about 7ft tall, and she had to be careful moving around on a tight stage with so much equipment packed around her.
As explained by frontman Dan Gillespie Sells, all the equipment on the stage were the instruments used to record the album, including a Hammond organ that the poor technical crew boys had to lift up those two flights of stairs I’d already walked up. The sound of this new album is very much going to reflect their live performance, having been recorded in a similar setting only a few miles away.
The band open with ‘Wicked Heart’ and already this show is way louder than I expected. I’ve been fed a diet of The Feeling’s adult pop radio classics like ‘Sewn’ and ‘Fill Me Up’ for the last few days and I wasn’t prepared for the full on rock band live sound. Guitars are high in the mix and they sound bold and punchy, with riff after riff of Queen like proportions.
Their next single will be ‘Spiralling’ and this is back to form with a pop sing song chorus that will stick in the brain for months. The Feeling are, in my view, a band that can produce a classic pop song of quality which is sadly missed in the charts today (does anybody even listen to the charts anymore?).
Stand out track from the night for me was a song called ‘Young Things’ and this should be a future single. It’s fast and the tempo raised higher than the norm reminds me of some glam rock bands of the 70’s.
As the band are no longer really young things themselves anymore they are developing their guitar musicianship into dare I say it... a Prog rock sound. Dipping their toes slightly into those murky beardy waters, but when you hear that Hammond organ coming through and then the extended guitar lead breaks it’s inevitable that comparisons will be made.
I swear at one point I thought they were playing a section of Pink Floyd’s ‘Great Gig in the Sky’ complete with wailing female backing. Its very good though and could generate a new audience in addition to their pop faithful.
Dan picks up an acoustic guitar for ‘What’s The Secret’ and we get a break from the rock, and back to something a little more introspective, however, its short lived as more guitar beckons with ‘Alien’, ‘Shadowboxer’, ‘Repeat To Fade’ and ‘Non-Stop American’ all having that rock’n’roll foundation. Dan and the boys all dripping with sweat, this is a strong workout in the small venue.
There is always a ballad and their final new album track is a lullaby called ‘Sleep Tight’, they need this – as do we, having been assaulted by the biggest band sound since Freddie Mercury and Co graced Wembley Stadium. If they can get the right radio exposure and live opportunities to showcase this material, I do believe that we will be hearing so much more of The Feeling in 2016.
A short break and they return to give the party all the hits, and band and audience start to bounce along to ‘Sewn’, ‘Never Be Lonely’, ‘Love it when you call’ and finally ‘Fill My Little World’.
If this new self titled album truly has that live sound heard tonight, then its very much a rock album of gigantic proportions, full of subtle textures but with a grounding of strong guitar tunes and punchy chorus. I’ll be preordering and so should you, the album drops on 12th February 2016.
COMMENTS
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Album is due out soon, and another tour imminent, great live band!
