Photo: James Berry
For a band with a predominantly dark and dreary musical catalogue, Frightened Rabbit sure makes people really happy. The Scottish quintet plays luscious, up-tempo folk rock that’s marked by the intoxicating dichotomy of singer Scott Hutchison’s melancholy vocals and lyrics. But while Hutchinson sang of breakups and death, a young devoted audience joyfully embraced each other and danced around, celebrating the beloved Scotsmen’s return to Manchester.
Frightened Rabbit seemed to feed off this energy throughout their 90-minute set. They made conversation among themselves and with the audience, took requests from the floor (performing an intense version of ‘Fast Blood’ in response to a giddy, shouting fan), introduced songs with stories and anecdotes, and ended each tune with a demurely grateful, “Cheers!” Such interactions between the band the audience made the small hall in the University of Manchester’s student union feel even more intimate, and the gig itself quite personal.
Though Frightened Rabbit’s third studio album, ‘The Winter of Mixed Drinks’, met critical acclaim earlier this year, the majority of the Manchester set list came from their 2008 release, ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’. Fan favorites included ‘The Modern Leper’, ‘My Backwards Walk’, and ‘Keep Yourself Warm’, during which guitarist Andy Monaghan and guitarist/keyboardist Gordon Skene shared narrow harmonies to create impressive musical textures. In the middle of the set, Hutchinson also played a solo acoustic version of ‘Good Arms vs. Bad Arms’. From the new album, Frightened Rabbit offered the jangly singles ‘Nothing Like You’ and ‘Swim Until You Can’t See Land’. Red, green, and blue stage lights flashed wildly, especially during ‘Living In Colour’, matching Hutchinson’s urgency as he sang, “Am I dancing? Or am I simply just spinning in my own grave?”
During the encore, Hutchinson actually seemed to stun the audience into silence as he wailed “But I hate when I feel like this and I never hated you,” during a solo acoustic “Poke.” Closing with a full-band, rousing version of ‘The Loneliness and the Scream,’ Frightened Rabbit had the entire room chanting, clapping, and singing the end refrain of “whoo hoo hoos.” As they near the end of a long tour, Frightened Rabbit still managed to convey a heartfelt enthusiasm in their songs at the Academy 2; Manchester was truly grateful.
