The Antlers – Bush Hall, London 25/11/09

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Hospice is the one album released this year, or even the decade, that has made me cry. A beautiful, affecting work that in my mind deserves no end of accolades. It is the album that I have most fallen in love with, the one that makes me go to bed early just so I can listen to it one more time before I sleep. My anticipation before seeing The Antlers live was mixed; of course I was excited, but also worried. In loving them so, I wanted them to be perfect; I wanted them to play through Hospice with precision, but with the emotion and power that a live experience brings.

The Antlers didn’t disappoint. Coming onto the stage playing a slightly altered version of ‘Prologue’, they didn’t impress immediately. But as soon as the lyrics “I wish that I had known, in that first minute we met, the unpayable debt , that I owed you” (from ‘Kettering’) floated beautifully out of Peter Silberman’s mouth, I knew this was going to be a powerful, moving gig. Peter’s voice is one of the strong points of the album, but live it becomes even more wonderful. It loses some of its floating, ghostly quality, but gains an emotional power, to deeply affect the audience. Part of its strength is in its lack of perfection, by cracking and occasionally losing time real personality is added to the performance. But the main strength of the Antlers in live performance is the power with which they play the instrumental sections of the songs. On the album, these were easily its weakest parts, but in performance they gain a power, and energy that is wondrous to behold, and difficult to describe.

They played roughly through the album, changing the order slightly, with each song receiving a slight change from how it is heard on record. I found my self enchanted by the band, mouthing the lyrics as they played, transfixed by their movements and sorrowful aggression. When Peter Silberman strummed each of the chords in centre piece Two they felt like they meant something. The hushed A’cappella opening to ‘Epilogue’ nearly put tears in my eyes. The slow build of ‘Wake’, coupled with the excellent drumming of Micheal Lerner, reached the truly wonderful climax of “I’m letting people in…” with aplomb. I’d rarely describe a performance as truly stunning, but this was just that.

There was only one let down, in that Darby Cicci slightly missed his cue in the keyboard breakdown at the end of ‘Epilogue’. This may sound small, but that tiny bit always set me off, as all of the emotion suddenly pours into one keyboard line. Despite this the Antlers played through what must have been one of my musical highlights from the year, and I feel more in love with the band than I ever had previously.

Photos by Crazybobbles