Live Review - Alabama Shakes

Alabama Shakes
HMV Institute
Birmingham
Friday 11th May


Alabama Shakes have had much hype around them, but the fact they are already playing this size of venue outside London is still impressive - especially as their first UK shows were two nights at London's Boston Arms pub back in February. The amount of excitement this band has provoked, with celebrity followers such as Russell Crowe, Jack White and Bon Iver, alongside regular radio air play of single ‘Hold On’, is evident in the upgrading of this venue. The show was promoted to the sold out main room of the HMV Institute, but the band do not look too shy, nor small, for the stage, with the presence of Brittany Howard drawing all the eyes of the room towards her.

With Alabama Shakes receiving such rave reviews, particularly with their first London performances, it was a surprise then how relatively poorly their debut album, Boys & Girls, was reviewed. Its opening three songs ‘Hold On’, ‘I Found You’ and 'Hang Loose’ are played early in tonight's set, with the first provoking the crowd to sing along to its simple chorus. The driving rhythm of ‘Hang Loose’ is next, propelled by its simple, pulsating bass line with Zac Cockrell, grimacing slightly as he nods his head up and down, right in the pocket with drummer Steve Johnson.

The songs they play next however, such as 'Heartbreaker' and 'Rise to the Sun' result in a drop in pace and suddenly Howard’s incredible voice doesn’t have a driving rhythm for it to bounce off. Where the album often lacks momentum and loses its way in slower songs, their live performance is invigorated by Howard when she drops her guitar and roams the stage with the shortcomings of their material forgotten. It's a shame the flawless performance on Later with Jools Holland of ‘Be Mine’ is not replicated tonight, with Howard clearly distracted by a dysfunctional microphone.

The Alabama Shakes singer is a tremendously intense performer, and prefaces the song ‘Boys & Girls’ with a story of when she was a child her best friend was a boy, and that they spent everyday together before they were told they weren’t permitted to be friends as they grew older. This clearly means a lot to her, and her performance is outstanding and true, her eyes popping with intensity and passion. Yet overall, the material is just too linear and lacking in varied dynamics - they feel stuck in a comfortable form. It relies too much on Howard’s voice, and often not enough is going on behind it. Their amount of material is also thin, and the always awkward proposition of a band headlining their own tour when they have just one album released is not entirely negated by Alabama Shakes filling at least a third of the set with covers and one new song, which at least is to date their most up tempo track.

Still, the crowd crave more from the band, and beg them to return for by stamping their feet to the floor, but I can't think of a song remaining from the album that they could play. Their selection to close is ultimately utterly contrived, with Howard insisting that ‘we came to see you!’ which the crowd laps up before giving the band a standing ovation. After I had listened to their album more, I was disappointed that they clearly weren't as great as was promised. Their performance on Jools Holland gave me hope that they may just be a great live band, unable to be captured on record. But their performance, at 70 minutes, in truth suffers from the same problem. They start strong, but fall away due to their slower material, but also the overall lack of quality and variety. It strikes me that the audience here is trying to hold on to the idea that they are still the astonishing new band that they were led to believe in.