Spector’s show at Leeds University’s Student Union, Stylus, on Thursday 30th November 2023 was a wild ride that mirrored the messy unpredictability of a classic student night out. From misplaced bank cards to wardrobe malfunctions, the evening unfolded with a chaotic charm that only added to Spector’s typically jubilant live performance. Despite occasional hiccups, the band kept the energy high and the crowd engaged throughout.
Hot on the release of their fourth studio album, Here Come The Early Nights — which has received positive reviews across the board — the London indie outfit’s set at times veered towards more of a comedy routine than a gig, with frontman Fred Macpherson’s self-deprecating sense of humour no match for his fly — which spent the first handful of songs undone — or heckling audience members. And while Fred and guitarist Jed Cullen gave Sheffield’s Record Junkee a similarly entertaining but stripped-back set the Sunday prior, it’s credit to Nicolas Py’s driving beats that a sense of order was retained amidst the chaos. Fred and Jed are a great creative duo, but it’s as a full band that the range of their talent is most evident.
Read more: Album Review: Here Come The Early Nights // Spector
At times there were lulls in the audience’s participation levels, but you’d expect that considering the band’s latest album has only just come out. Yet what was clear from the unit’s performance of their new material, including the rockier ‘Driving Home For Halloween’ and ‘Not Another Weekend’, was just how much texture bassist and vocalist Jen Sanin adds with her wailing backing vocals. ‘Some People’ got its live debut and its highly chant-able chorus stood up well between the more established Spector fan-favourites, one of which, ‘Stay High’, made a return to the setlist due to little more than online peer pressure, it would seem.
What sets Spector apart from other artists is their close and interactive relationship with their fanbase; the band demonstrated remarkable flexibility in their setlist, accommodating a fan request for their 21st birthday. Instead of the typical encore of ‘Chevy Thunder’, they created an unrehearsed mashup of the former with ‘Twenty Nothing’, borne out of Fred’s frantic onstage whispers and Jed checking Jen knew the chords; a break from the tried-and-tested formula that they’d do well to repeat on the rest of the tour. The crowd was on-song and all hands aloft for the lines “one, you started coming over / two, you started sleeping over / three, you started taking over / four, you told me it was over”, before the band launched into set closer ‘All The Sad Young Men’, a consistently excellent goodbye taken from their 2015 release, Moth Boys.
What happens after the afters? Well, those not beholden to the UK’s public transport infrastructure were invited to join the band for a DJ set after their show. Seamlessly blending chaos, humour, and some of the outfit’s most assured songwriting to date, Spector have confidently shown that getting older doesn’t necessarily have to mean being boring at all.
Words by Beth Kirkbride
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.