Fu Manchu at Islington Academy

Fu Manchu
Big Spring
Islington Academy, 27 March 2018

This show was unusual for me because I was not at all familiar with the band I was going to see. I had heard of Fu Manchu but never actually heard them but my brother is a big fan and keen to see them for the first time so I was willing to give them a go. I knew it would be heavy stoner rock with sludgy riffs aplenty and on that count they definitely more than delivered.

It's been a while since I've been to Islington Academy and I had forgotten how small the place is. A lot of metal and rock bands seem to place there these days, so it is the perfect place for a band like Fu Manchu to play. My second thought was how few girls there were at the show and the place was mainly filled with middle-aged white guys nursing their beers (although this did change when the music started and younger white dudes started crowd-surfing - the first show I've been to with crowd-surfing in years). Of course Fu Manchu date back to 1990 and released their first album in 1994, so many of the fans here probably go back with the band a long way.

Rather appropriately the support act, Big Spring, has a heavy 90s feel that proved popular with the crowd. I think the most surprising thing for me was how much this young Brighton band looked like a 90s indie band rather than hard rockers. The singer even looked like a cross between Miles Hunt from The Wonder Stuff and Roland Orzabal from Tears For Fears (when they were young of course). 

Apparently the band are hugely influenced by grunge legends such as Alice In Chains and Soundgarden and to be fair, watching them it did make me reflect on seeing those bands for the first time back in the day. That said, I do think they have quite a way to go before they reach those heights. But, I can't really put them down, Big Spring were enjoyable enough.

I was curious what Fu Manchu actually looked like and when they arrived on stage most of them fit the image I had in my head aside from frontman Scott Hill, who looks like an aging skateboarder/surfer dude with the most wispy long hair I've ever seen (I would have thrown a bottle of conditioner on stage for him if I had one). Guitarist Bob Balch had a seriously cool Bad Brains t-shirt and a gorgeous SG guitar and loved connecting with the audience throughout the show. At the back Scott Reeder had a fine head of hair and was a truly badass drummer. The only member I couldn't really see was bald-headed bassist Brad Davis, who did look pretty rock when I caught glimpses of him.

As I'm unfamiliar with Fu Manchu's musical output I can't really talk about what songs they played but a lot did come from the new album, Clone Of The Universe. The music though was, as expected, full of heavy, fuzzy riffs that would make Black Sabbath proud and it's easy to see how they fit nicely along with bands like Kyuss, Monster Magnet and early Queens Of The Stone Age. 

The crowd was jumping throughout and I was surprised to see sweaty young guys being pulled from the tops of people's heads after crowd-surfing. At one point someone rudely threw a beer at Hill as he was playing meaning he actually had to stop to wipe the liquid from his guitar. He mouthed "not cool" and gave the invisible offender the finger before resuming playing (the band itself carried on throughout) and I have to respect the guy for just taking it all in his stride.

After an hour of energetic, riff-tastic rock the band announced their last song and the guy next to actually asked for the time, I think he was surprised (as was I really) that the show was so short. Little did we know that their final song (before the encore anyway) would be almost 30 minutes long and an instrumental. I have to be honest here, it was the only part of the show, the rest of which was quite exciting to watch and hear, where I got bored. There were so many false endings, I was so thankful when it came to an end that I really didn't care if there was an encore.

The band did of course return for one more song (it would have been hard not to with the crowd shouting in unison "Fu Manchu! Fu Manchu!" but thankfully it was short and sweet and had words! It was a great way to end the show (well, for me anyway).

I don't know if I'll be going away and listening to lots of Fu Manchu now but the show certainly brought me back to my rock-loving youth and I can safely say, that even if you don't know their music, Fu Manchu are a fantastic live band.