FM are on the road so constantly that it is hard to divine where one tour begins and another ends. However the release of their excellent latest album ‘Brotherhood’ marks the start of a long tour, with the set list incorporating some new songs but also having a bit of a wider revamp. Worryingly few people were present initially at this London date but by the time they hit the stage the eventual crowd was respectable.

Several acts are sharing support duties and I was looking forward to catching Rosalie Cunningham, having missed her set at Maid of Stone Festival. Sadly she caught Covid and with only a day’s notice one of those other supports, Brave Rival, stepped in, which was no hardship for me as a confirmed fan.

Since they also supported FM on their last proper London headline last year at Dingwalls, the Portsmouth-based band have been going through changes. When one of their two lead singers Chloe Josephine left, they regrouped as a more conventional four piece and have accelerated an already evident change in direction towards an out-and-out rock sound and away from the blues scene where they first emerged.

They opened with ‘Bad Choices’ with singer Lindsey Bonnick encouraging a clap along but a trio of songs embraced that new direction: ‘Poison’ and ‘Wild Child’ had sharp and more contemporary sounding riffs from Ed ‘the Shred’ Clarke, but the middle one ‘Control’ was even further from anything they have done before, owing more to Evanescence or Halestorm than more traditional blue based artists.

Photo: Andy Nathan

Despite the short notice FM’s Jem Davis came on to add keyboard colour to the highlight of the set ‘Heavy’, with a powerful vocal performance from Lindsey then a second section in which Ed went right to the front of the crowd to start winding up a lengthy solo which grew in intensity in epic fashion. An older favourite in ‘Fairytale’ ended a short set which confirmed the rapid changes in their ranks. They certainly gained some new fans with this performance though there is a risk the new direction may lose others. I’m eager to discover further at their ‘5 to 4’ EP launch at the 100 Club next month.

In contrast FM have seen no need to take chances with an established formula, though the set was reordered with the lively ‘Synchronized’ restored to the front of the set, featuring the first of numerous tidy solos from Jim Kirkpatrick, who appears to be growing his hair. After the classic keyboard intro and AOR melodies of ever present debut album favourite ‘I Belong To The Night’ , ‘Turn This Car Around’- a distant cousin of Bon Jovi’s ‘Blood On Blood’ and the main set closer for the past few years, was moved forward to early in the set.

On the challenging ‘Someday You’ll Come Running’ Steve Overland’s golden voice still hit all the notes before the first new song. While the new album continues their recent trend of covering a variety of bases, they stuck to two of the more conventional melodic rockers which fitted in seamlessly in ‘Living On The Run’ and ‘Don’t Call It Love’, the latter reminding me of eighties greats like Toto and Starship. In between ‘Let Love Be The Leader’ ( shamefully only a single and never on album) had Steve getting the crowd to join in on his trademark ‘who-oah-oahs’ before a classic harmony guitar solo climax between him and Jim.

A very varied set included the return after quite a long absence of old crowd participation favourite ‘Burning My Heart Down’ with Jem even adding some harmonica at the end, ‘Black Water’ with its Americanised southern blues feel and ‘Does it Feel Like Love’ with a Steve vocal solo mid-song. The only downside was a rather booming mix from the sound desk with the bass arguably too high.

I’m at risk of repeating previous reviews but I am always struck how much the band – whose current line up has been unchanged for 17 years- appear to enjoy playing together with loads of grins and mickey taking, that occasionally disrupt their usual musical tightness. They also appear genuinely grateful and without ego and as a fan of (gulp!) 40 years standing I really feel valued.

One way they reward the faithful is in mixing a few different cult favourites into the setlist and in this case a highlight was one of the first songs they wrote in ‘Dangerous’ - though such are its multiple hooks that, as with ‘Let Love Be the Leader’, its omission from ‘Indiscreet’ remains unforgivable. Another surprise was Steve’s velvety voice singing the sweet melodies of ballad ‘Incredible’ which had gone down so well on their acoustic tour in the spring it was put in the regular set for the first time.

However there are certain songs they have to play and a holy trinity of three of their best known came one after another in ‘That Girl’ – where the tempo seems subtly slower than the original- ‘Bad Luck’, ticking my personal boxes including the twin guitar opening and a mid-song keyboard break that could have come from Survivor’s ‘Vital Signs’ album, and an irresistible ‘Tough It Out’. The main set finished with another post-reunion live favourite in ‘Killed By Love’ with its participatory ‘yay-yay-ohs’.

For many years the pair of encores has been the same, but while retaining the concept of a ballad showcase for Steve’s voice followed by an old favourite – they were completely overhauled. After Jem took centre stage to show off a new waistcoat and more importantly celebrate two years cancer free, he played a lengthy intro and accompanied Steve on the third of the new numbers, the ballad ‘Just Walk Away’. it is hardly my favourite on the album but was arranged exquisitely with Jim joining them mid-song for a sweet solo though the ever-reliable founding rhythm section of Merv Goldsworthy and Pete Jupp were given a bit of a rest.

Everyone was back and Jem made it four at the front with his portable keytar during ‘Heart Of The Matter’, one of ‘Indiscreet’s less heralded tracks but a fitting climax as I always remember it being the set closer in the early days.

This hour and 40 minute set struck the perfect balance between old and new, the songs casual fans would expect to hear and those to please the more committed. Coupled with the band’s affable stage presence it was yet another feel good evening of guaranteed excellence from Britain’s premier melodic rock band.

Review by Andy Nathan
Photos by Adrian Hextall (except where stated)

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