Feeder, Koko - review - Music - Arts - Evening Standard
       

Feeder, Koko - review

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When their albums routinely went platinum, Feeder looked destined for stadium status. Yet since 2005's Pushing The Senses, they have haemorrhaged sales and fans: their last album, 2010's bolshy Renegades, was welcomed into barely 10,000 homes.

Feeder's first London show in a year was chiefly a showcase for their forthcoming album, Generation Freakshow. Indeed, when leader Grant Nicholas was booed for joking that they wouldn't be playing their biggest hit, Buck Rogers, the otherwise chatty singer saddled his high horse and told the crowd "tonight, it's about new music".

He needn't have been quite so touchy, for the new material was a re-statement of old values. Oh My, Borders and Quiet Sunrise reaffirmed Feeder's winning way with an expertly crafted pop-punk nugget packed with insistent verses and tub-thumping choruses. If Foo Fighters were half-Welsh, half-Japanese, they might have sounded very much like Nicholas and his bouncy bassist Taka Hirose.

Some may chide their lack of progress but when Feeder tried to evolve they lost almost everything. Right now, they feel like a band with a weight lifted off their shoulders, revelling in playing to their many strengths. It's hard not to fall for such an advanced level of self-awareness.

Feeder
KOKO
Camden High Street, NW1 7JE

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