Future Islands - Hampden Festival, Sept 2014 (Written a year ago)

Anyone who believes a gig's highlights can only be expressed through vocals is completely wrong. Samuel T Herring, vocalist from Future Islands performed the most soulful and funky dance moves at Hampden Festival. His signature moves added the icing on the cake for the indie-rock's reputation.

Herring's husky and deep vocals roared through the songs no matter which tone they set out. Their song Doves, jumped straight into smooth rhythms complemented by Gerrit Welmer's synthesised sounds on the keyboard. From the moment the track began connected with the body rolls from Herring, it was almost visible to see energy being passed onto the jumping crowd.

Though despite how pleasing the body rolls and dropping to the knees was to watch, it added to the stillness of Welmers and William Cashion, the guitarist. They were completely fixated on playing their instruments and the cheers from the crowds were not going to drag their attention away.

Song for Our Grandfathers was greeted with a small intro - "this song is about where we're from, North Carolina". Putting aside the fact the lyrics are almost impossible to comprehend, Herring's movement slows down with the tempo and the meaning behind the lyrics become clear.

The members as a band show no interaction with each other and certainly none from Herring who is in full swing making contact with the audience. Until the end when he gives a short but sweet intro to each member of the band to finish with. Can it be justified that these synth-rock men aren't into public display of affection?
As melancholy as some of the songs were set out to be, Spirit puts a spin on things with its buoyant back beat. It sounds almost too similar, as if it should be a classic 80s tune that everyone should know. The tempo is fast but the vocals don't compete, they're spoken rather than sang, until the chorus where they become infinitely deeper but it fits well. Michael Lowry, the drummer, was not only drumming his sticks but his head was going to the beat of the song too.

Their last song Seasons touches the audience in a way that leaves them screaming and cheering for an encore. This could have been due to the way Herring performed it like a story, by talking more than singing. But of course adding in a roar here and there. The moments filled with just a rhythm and back beat were used appropriately for more groovy dance moves, and everyone loved it.