LIVE REVIEW: Black Foxxes @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
While the crowd at Cardiff’s infamous Clwb Ifor Bach for English indie rock outfit BLACK FOXXES may be slightly reserved before hearing any live music, its clearly because they’re saving their energy for the bands themselves. The fragility of the live music scene right now is reflected in the lack of people that fill just half of the downstairs club room at one of Cardiff’s most notorious venues.
The band with the task of warming up the unusually frosty crowd for the night was self-proclaimed ‘pretentious’ indie-rock band SIENNA. One that Cardiff locals may recognise, the group have played in most of, if not all, the venues on Womanby street, and rightly so. The dynamic four-piece perform together like a well-oiled machine, winning the audience over with their radio-friendly indie rock. While their music may be very dissimilar to the headline act, their set goes down surprisingly well.
Rating: 8/10
The second band of the night are JOOLS, a noise rock band from Leicester. The five piece usually performs as a six piece yet decided to cut a member for the tour to “save space in the van”. It’s their final night touring with BLACK FOXXES and they’re making the most of it. Frontman Mitchell Gordan utilises every scrap of remaining space on the stage that seems even more cramped than usual in the presence of JOOLS.
He interacts with the crowd, screaming lyrics in their faces and intoxicating them with his quirky dance moves. Each member of the band looks like they’re from a completely different band, using their unique style of flared trousers and patterned collared shirts to stand out in the crowd full of black band t-shirts. Whatever tricks they used when designing their set worked because the entire crowd has begun nodding their heads along with furious guitar riffs and lyrics criticising the government.
Rating: 7/10
Headline act BLACK FOXXES changed the dynamic of the stage dramatically. Consisting of just three members, the band shows why they deserve a headline slot with their performance that packs a definite punch. Though the band itself has been active for eight years, drummer Finn Mclean and bassist Jack Henley are new additions to the trio, as of last year. It really doesn’t seem like it because the group plays together unbelievably cohesively for a, fairly, new arrangement. There isn’t a single mistake made the entire night and they manage to somehow engage the audience all while being tethered to the spot by microphone cables and various vocal parts. They really know how to please the crowd that has come out on a cold December night specifically to see them, playing a collection of older songs and those from their new self-titled album. The crowd has also found some of their energy since the trio appeared on stage, getting involved with the driving drum beats, fuzzy guitar and haunting vocal melodies.
It’s taken well over a year since the release of their album to perform it for willing fans, through multiple lockdowns and the threat of one constantly looming over the music industry’s head. BLACK FOXXES have used this as motivation to really give their all at every performance, with their gig at Clwb Ifor Bach being no exception to the rule. They really made the wait to hear it live worth it for every single person in the room.
Rating: 9/10
Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Cardiff from Megan Jenkins Photography here:
