Savages, The Roundhouse, London, review: Urgent, impatient performance takes the breath away
The band's thunderous, bass-heavy music brings material from 2016’s Adore Life to… well, life
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Urgent and impatient, their thunderous, bass-heavy music brings material from 2016’s Adore Life to… well, life.
Gemma Thompson draws out Sonic Youth-esque scratches and squeals (without the screwdrivers) on her guitar, while Jehnny Beth channels Patti Smith’s commanding presence.
As a frontwoman Beth is theatrical, but not as flamboyant as, say, Muse’s Matt Bellamy; she prowls across the stage, staring out audience members and giving unapologetic introductions to songs about lust, love, dreams and pornography: "Sad Person" declares "Love is a disease/The strongest addiction I know/What happens in the brain/ Is the same as the rush of cocaine".
For their fierce image, they’re surprisingly gentle with fans; Beth reaches her hand out to the clamouring crowds at the front and clambers out over their shoulders, assuring them that it’s OK to mosh on a Thursday night, because why not?
Closing on "Fuckers", their phenomenal support act Bo Ningen leap onstage to join them for a relentless, exhilarating jam that ends so abruptly it actually seems unfair, and the audience is left trying to catch its collective breath.
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