In a league of their own: Savages live in London

Adore Life is a fantastic, life-affirming record that on its release in January saw many suspend betting for album of the year; Best Fit’s review awarded it a rare perfect score. Now it’s been with us for a few months it sounds even better.

It wasn’t always this way however. When Savages emerged with their debut Silence Yourself there seemed to be at best a grudging admiration for them, as if they were mere post-punk revivalists. But Adore Life has prompted a sea-change, tonight I lose count of the amount of times I overhear people say how much they love the record and that Savages are rumoured to be fantastic live.

So now they face the challenge of getting bigger, attracting new converts, pleasing the die-hards and retaining the sense of magic that propelled them here, which is met and exceeded at The Roundhouse tonight (17th March).

Wearing their customary black, as ever they look like the perfect gang, but despite their obvious unity what makes them so compelling is that each member plays an integral part of the whole. Guitarist Gemma Thompson debunks the idea of the posturing guitar hero, studiously wringing wondrous sounds from her instrument, equal parts atmospheric, bombastic (at times it’s like the sound of breaking glass) and irresistibly catchy, dulcet pop riffs. The rhythm section are just astonishing, bassist Ayşe Hassan’s every note locks with Fay Milton’s metronomic drumming. And at the centre of the maelstrom is singer and ringleader Jehnny Beth.

Wisely Thompson and Hassan don’t stray too far from their posts either side of her, she prowls the stage in a blur of perpetual movement. Now that they’re playing bigger venues, her prowess as the front of the collective is growing, larger stages suit the vastness of Savages music as much they do her sense of theatre. And the theatricality isn’t just limited to Beth, on “Shut Up” Milton holds one of her drumsticks above her head whilst drumming on the chorus with the other.

Beth introduces several songs tonight with soliloquies which range from the political - before “Evil” she says “I asked the world and the world said ‘the system is working’, but the orders are dull.” - to the romantic, “When In Love” is preceded by “You know that feeling when you’re in love and you feel like you’re doing the wrong thing? This is a song to say ‘well, fucking do it anyway!’” As she sings the lines “Is it a demon or an angel holding us, when in love?” she sounds like a beat-poet speaking over a track from The Stooges’ Raw Power. The music possesses a yearning that’s expressed with power and noise which enhances the tenderness of the lyrics’ sentiment.

The Savages live experience is a two-way interaction between themselves and the audience. Before “She Will” Beth urges the crowd to raise their game to Savages level, saying “this is a fucking great start, but I think we can develop…” Accordingly there’s the first outbreak of a mosh-pit, whose members all seem to be jockeying for position when Beth will do her customary walk across the audience and like every song tonight it finishes so sharply they sound like an incredibly well-drilled machine.

On “Hit Me” she finally prepares to make her walk across the crowd’s shoulders, again deconstructing the barrier with the audience, asking “Steady, steady, are you ready to receive me?” Yet rather than stopping a few rows in, tonight she almost makes it to the back of the venue, microphone in hand, adlibbing “It’s time for you to wake up” before finally reaching a perch a hundred feet from the stage. As she makes her way back she leaps into the air, performing a gymnastic backflip, landing gracefully on the front rows.

“Adore” adds another string to their bow, stripping a song right back to its purest form but retaining their controlled power. When it reaches its first stop, Beth pauses for what feels like an age, playfully making us wait before declaring the statement of intent “I adore life…” and as her voice rises an octave, its defiant urgency sounds incredible.

The closing “Fuckers” is prefaced with what could be a précis of Adore Life “Life can feel like falling into a deep well, but music, love, connection, right here, right now, that’s where we need to become the people we want to become.” Support band Bo Ningen join them, doubling up the drums and bass quotient, as well as adding two more guitars, making it an even bigger sounding beast than usual. It’s another example of Savages debunking the idea of the artist as an untouchable star and they seem to be having a ridiculous amount of fun, both drummers playing the same kit in perfect synchronicity is a sight to behold.

There’s no encore, Savages don’t need one, across ninety minutes they’ve said everything they wanted to. There’s a sense of occasion that’s entirely their own and an ability to confound expectations, they’re four musicians walking their own inimitable path.

Great art should inspire, challenge and blaze a trail, which Savages do with insouciant ease. So, returning to the format we applied when we saw them last year, back to the initial question. Is there a better band on the planet than Savages? No, is the answer.

Setlist:

I Am Here
Sad Person
City's Full
Slowing Down the World
Shut Up
She Will
Husbands
Surrender
Evil
When In Love
I Need Something New
The Answer
Hit Me
No Face
T.I.W.Y.G.
Mechanics
Adore
Fuckers