The Joy Formidable

So I've been meaning to post this since I went to see The Joy Formidable perform at the O2 Academy Leicester a few weeks ago. For me, they have been a band whereby after seeing them I had one of those moments when you suddenly realise 'How did I not know about these guys before??' Admittedly, about a week or so before seeing them live, I had never heard of them, which resulted in me spending the week prior to the gig solely listening to anything they had ever done. I have never become so hooked on a band, so quickly.. not for a long time anyway, I'm pretty sure the first time I heard Hoppipolla, it sparked an instant love..But that's Sigur Ros, my relationship with them is on an ENTIRELY different level..

Anyway, I turned up for the gig ready to be wowed, now, I don't know if anyone has been to O2 Academy Leicester before, Room 1 is great (I use the term 'great' very loosely), but Room 2 (which is where Joy Formidable were playing) slightly resembles a church hall, which, let's face it, isn't the best venue for a gig. But no matter, on with the show.. Support came from The Chapman Family (another band played too, but I missed them), who were pretty good, but I felt so unbelievably sorry for them because the audience was honestly the most bizarre mix of people I had ever seen. It was a disjointed mix of students, children and A LOT of old men, maybe they got confused and thought it was actually a church hall? I always find it excruciating seeing a band play to a crowd who are just not having ANY of it, which is a shame, because as I said, they were pretty good..Maybe Leicester just aren't ready for the whole music scene yet..

Luckily, when The Joy Formidable came on, the audience drastically changed and suddenly, what had been a river of slow nods and sways transformed into a bit of a mosh pit (albeit a mosh pit confined to the front three rows, but still, anything compared to how it was before would have looked like a riot.) Thankfully I had had a fair few beers by this point, so I was in the mood for a bit of a dance, and the following hour and a half was quite possibly one of the funnest, and definitely the sweatiest, gigs I have been to in a while! Who woulda thought you could have so much fun in a room with wooden paneled walls..

If you haven't heard about them, I implore you to go and listen to their album 'The Big Roar'. It really is very good. The lead singer Ritzy is also a complete fox..I have no reservations in admitting I have a MAJOR girl crush on her, and when I found out she was dating the guitarist it just made me love them even more..how cute!!