Recently in the news, we heard how tours have shrunk and cover fewer towns and cities than they did 30 years ago. For FM the opposite seems to be the case – as well as playing the established big cities, they get out to a surprising variety of provincial venues. A traditional rock and bikers pub in Hastings seemed an unlikely venue for the UK’s most enduring melodic rock band; however something is afoot on the South Coast.

A growing number of musicians, journalists and fans have moved to the town from London over the past few years, and an enterprising local promoter Phill Wood has put on a series of gigs by national acts. As a result this small pub was a sell out and there was a real sense of anticipation in the air, beyond that at the countless FM gigs I’ve done over the years.

Support band White Skies are a newish band but a seasoned bunch of musicians who served in bands around the same time FM were hopefuls in the late eighties. They confirmed my favourable first impression from the Tower of Fire festival in the summer with a nicely varied set. Openers ‘What Do You Know About Love’ and ‘A Love Unjustified’ were solid hard rock but ‘Emily’ more melodic.

This variety was most in evidence as ‘Kiss Me As I Say Goodbye’ was almost Journey-esque AOR (though sadly the prominent keys came from a tape), yet led into the heavy, almost progressive sounds of ‘Black Tide’, while ‘One Step Forward’ the sort of melodic prog Yes and Asia were purveying in the eighties. The rough hewn vocals of singer Mick White are matter of taste but I really enjoyed their set.

FM are a known quantity, indeed my challenge as a hack cum long term fan is to find anything new to say about them. They took stage to a mock film trailer voiceover about current album ‘Old Habits Die Hard’, before opening with perhaps one of the relatively less distinguished numbers in the set in ‘Digging In The Dirt’ then, surprisingly early, ‘Tough It Out’. The way Steve Overland’s vocal intro includes both a ‘who-oah’ and an ‘oh-yeah’ tells you how many hooks the song has, yet their more recent stuff can have the same effect too, with ‘Killed By Love’ met by a forest of fists punching the air and singing ‘yay yay yeah’.

Even a band as experienced and professional can make the odd misstep so there was great amusement when Jem Davis played the keyboard intro to ‘Let Love Be The Leader’ when the band were expecting ‘Someday You’ll Come Running’. Both were superb, the latter with a massive chorus and the former when it finally arrived another reminder of how it should have been on ‘Indiscreet’ with the highlight the Lizzy-esque harmony guitar solo from Jim Kirkpatrick and Steve at the end.

‘Synchronised’ is firmly a live favourite these days but generally this was a set heavily based on their first two albums, ignoring the bluesier FM of the early nineties or their immediate reformation. Indeed it was seven songs in before we get one from the recent album in ‘Don’t Need Another Heartache’ with a Bad Company feel especially in Steve’s gritty vocals. Only one other made it into the set, the Jem Davis written ‘Out Of The Blue’ laid back, but insidiously catchy and likely to have staying power in the live set.

In a manner that would have been unthinkable in the days when Andy Barnett was on guitar, one song after another harked back to the AOR glory days of the first two albums, helped by crisp and tidy soloing from Jim Kirkpatrick in the spirit of the originals – be it the classily arranged balladry of ‘Everytime I Think Of You’ or ‘The Dream That Died’, or singalongs such as ‘I Belong To The Night’ (that keyboard intro gets me every time), ‘That Girl’ and ‘Does It Feel Like Love’. ‘Bad Luck’ eclipsed even them, as for me it was every single hallmark of FM at their best while the nearest to a surprise was ‘Hot Wired’, as we shouted out the ‘who-oahs’ and with another twin guitar climax.

However to prove it’s not all nostalgia, Steve correctly reported that set closer ‘Turn This Car Around’ has become a fan favourite and so it proved deservedly so, outstanding from the piano and drum intro worthy of Springsteen or peak Bon Jovi through to a closing rock out. My only regret is they haven’t written more songs in this vein on the last two or three albums.

The encores were no surprise to FM regulars, though Steve’s voice is still a thing of wonder, even it seems to his bandmates, as he carried ‘Story Of My Life’ singlehandedly with just a piano backing from Jem. Then the latter was out front with his keytar as the band loosened up still further during the classic debut album ‘Other Side of Midnight’, and their unforced joy after all these years is an object lesson to other bands and always contributes to a feel good atmosphere at their shows.

Handily placed to travel for a tour in mainland Europe, beginning with a Belgian date the next day, FM were reliably superb as ever and It was a night the Hastings rock community will remember for a long time.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)