It’s easy to forget the early London December cold among a boisterous, young crowd all jumping to the Brighton-5 piece Fickle Friends. It’s like we’re in a mid Californian summer heat as their boundless energy and upbeat refrains warm the entire room.

 

It’s the band’s first headline show at HEAVEN and their last of their UK tour. Rather than meeting this with exhaustion, the band’s energy and hunger for being here remains consistently enthusiastic throughout.

 

Certainly, this enthusiasm is especially echoed in lead singer Natti’s electric performance.  Accompanied with both a shaker and a tambourine, she dances through electronic explorations and rich synth-pop sounds, her vocals matching the delicate youthful tones found on their records.

 

Strong bass grooves glide us through the set. Tracks like ‘Say No More’ create a lustful, 80’s inspired atmosphere and this is only further complimented by the neon pink and blue rigged lights acting as their backdrop. There was glitter, balloons, people on shoulders thrusting umbrellas into the air, a unique flamboyancy that showed how there’s room in today’s pop industry for the contemporary and the classics to meet in live performance.

 

The percussion and keys at the forefront amplified the liveness of the sound. When I looked around the room, I saw a shared exuberance. Every single person had given over to the infectiousness of the performance, everyone was dancing and singing along (including me, who was also embarrassingly jumping and tripping over).

 

The band swiftly and perfectly delivered ‘Brooklyn’. The juxtaposing lyrics about alienation and anxiety sitting with pop melodies is impressive. There’s a crude edge they give to the genre of indie pop and a sense of how exciting this is for their fan base. Before finishing, (‘'You didn’t think we’d go without playing this did you?’’ key’s player Jack Wilson jokes) the band go out on a high to the fan favourite Swim.

 

The sense of community already evoked in the band’s fanbase and vitality over what is essential an EP and a set of singles makes me extremely excited for what Fickle Friends could achieve after an album. They are definitely one to watch in 2017..