The Joy Formidable + And So I Watch You From Afar – HMV Forum, London 14/10/11

Sometimes, you get a premonition a band’s going to make it big. Perhaps it’s the hunger in the lead singer’s eye, perhaps it’s a display of charisma too vibrant to be contained in the back room of a Kings Cross pub. Perhaps it’s just a perfect balance of accessibility and good, old-fashioned tunes. There’s just some some artists you know will break out of the closeted world of the blogosphere into the general public consciousness.

Back in 2008, I had that distinct vibe about North Welsh three-piece The Joy Formidable. At that time they were opening up for the likes of Miracle Fortress at London’s recently-closed Luminaire – but even then they exuded that indefinable air of stadium-filler-in-the-making.

Three years on, they’ve sold out North london’s vast HMV Forum, attracting an eclectic and passionate audience that seem to know the words to each an every song, all without losing any of the charm or focus that made them so appealing in the first place. True, their meaty, angular riffs perhaps aren’t as punchy as they could be (put that down to the echo-chamber of a venue), but Ritzy Bryan’s rock-star vocals and postures put much more seasoned veterans to shame.

The shoegaze-inspired assault of ‘The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade’ is a personal highlight tonight but the momentum rarely drops in a set that confirms The Joy Formidable as one of the few British bands that are deservedly destined for much greater things.

That said, their thunder was almost stolen by Belfast-based opening band And So I Watch You From Afar. They’ve often been shoehorned into the “post-rock” genre, but that label insufficiently conveys the orgy of math-rock rhythms, blistering guitar pyrotechnics and grade-A badassery they actually deliver. Patently ridiculous, but in a totally awesome way, the reception they receive suggests that it’s only a matter of time before they’ll be meeting tonight’s headliners in the upper echelons of alt-rockdom.