First of all, this particular scene may not be quite in my wheelhouse, but who doesn’t like a bit of pop in their lives every so often? I thoroughly enjoyed a Phoenix album about 4 years ago, and had caught them at the V Festival about 3 years ago, but I hadn’t really been following them since then (save their few appearances in the Hottest 100). Still, my expectations were relatively high.

Miami Horror took to the stage first up, when reading the name on the running sheet I couldn’t off the top of my head remember if I knew who they were or not. Being that there were only the 2 bands on the bill, Miami Horror had the opportunity to play a reasonably long set, which allowed the crowd time to warm up to them (not a luxury many support acts have). Also, as their set progressed, the venue got progressively more full, adding to the atmosphere. All in all, they delivered a solid and entertaining set. Their tunes were a kind of driven power-pop, with power drumming providing almost a dance beat in most of the songs, along with a lot of keyboard and bass effects. The frontman boasted an impressive array of dance moves despite holding a guitar, which elicited big cheers from the crowd every time. By the end of the set most, of the now almost full Festival Hall was right into the set; dancing, fist pumping, and a surprising amount of people singing along, in particular during the closing track "Sometimes", which clocked in around #80 in the Hottest 100 this year.

After a reasonably long interval between bands, the members of the French 5 piece Phoenix made their way out onto the stage to the delight of the crowd. Opening with the track "Listomania" (#4 in this years hottest 100), they immediately had the crowd dancing, jumping and singing along (something that would basically continue for the next couple of hours). While the band came out and started playing on a relatively modest and low-lit stage, about halfway through the opening song the customized stage lighting kicked into gear. The fact that I am bothering to mention lighting as part of a live performance should give an impression on how incredible the lighting actually was. About a dozen vertical light rigs that would change colour and move in time with the music really added an incredible extra dimension to the show. In terms of the band’s performance, they easily worked the crowd and the stage, and delivered each track with a kind of pop and rock energy that was very entertaining. The frontman made a comment at one stage that “everytime we play here, there are more people”, and that made sense, because you could see that there were a lot of new fans in the audience… Case and point, one of Phoenix’s better and more well known older songs "Too Young", was met with a tepid response compared to anything currently on moderate rotation on the radio. Not that there is too much wrong with that, but it does go to show that Phoenix are accumulating more and more fans as they go along, by the time they make it out again the show will probably be bigger still.

Even though as a rule Phoenix would not be high on my list of rockin' bands, I was most entertained by their live show, they delivered flawless pop and delivered it well, and they were charming to boot.