FAT FREDDY’S DROP
Colston Hall, Bristol | October 2nd
Fat Freddy’s Drop are a pretty unique proposition: a seven-piece dub band from New Zealand who are partial to a bit of techno. And in lead vocalist Joe Dukie they have their secret weapon – a velvet voiced soul man who lifts what might otherwise be unremarkable dub workouts into another sphere entirely.
And when – as in the truly mind blowing 20 minute finale of this show – Fat Freddy flex their muscles and morph from an ambient house rhythm into a skronking, jack-knifing dub-techno wig out, it’s obvious why they’ve earned their reputation. But too often during the performance, their wilder edge and Dukie’s bittersweet croon is relegated to the background, eclipsed by funny-for-a-bit call ‘n’ response student reggae. Bristol being Bristol, the crowd lapped this up, and it seems mean-spirited to be cynical about something that gives so many people so much skanking pleasure (but we will anyway). Laid next to adventurous tracks like Silver & Gold (the single that led their latest album) or Never Moving, the dub-by-numbers just doesn’t cut it (not even when the trombonist strips to his matching white undergarments for the second half of the show).
Fat Freddy’s are renowned as a live act, and their albums are a product of their relentless touring – but we found ourselves pining for a bit more of the sonic sophistication that tumbles out of the speakers in their recorded work, and less of the Boomtown brass band crowd pleasing.
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Words: Adam Corner
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