It’s funny to think that such a memorable live gig experience involved being hardly able to see the actual band. Such was the case the last time (and maybe first time) I saw Londoners Folly Group, back in 2021 at Manchester Psych Fest. Downstairs in the basement of The Ritz, in a part of the venue I only knew existed seconds before entering the room, I squeezed into the space with a packed crowd of clued up, likeminded punters to catch the hotly tipped outfit. With a view pretty much obscured by a series of pillars, I caught the occasional glimpse of the drummer’s knee or maybe a shadow against the back wall, but it ripped regardless, their sweatbox set a blistering must-see on what was a shit-hot, post-Covid line-up of the inner-city festival.
Not long after, Folly Group followed up the release of their debut EP ‘Awake and Hungry‘ with another EP, ‘Human and Kind‘ (in addition to the small matter of appearing on Metronomy’s collaborative ‘Posse’ EP), before finally releasing their highly anticipated debut full length, ‘Down There!’ at the start of 2024. On these very pages, we suggested that their debut album “matches the same energy and excitement as that first EP” and sure enough, we were chuffed up to get another glimpse of them – this time in the less intimate, though much more visually appealing, Pink Room at YES.
There were a few hairstyle changes since our last outing with Folly Group, certainly on the part of the now long haired vocalist / drummer Sean Harper. Tapping a stick against his leg as he opened up the set with the spoken word intro for the title track from ‘Awake and Hungry‘, his voice carried through the room almost dreamlike, bassist Tom Doherty suitably in a trance as he crouched down low, staring into the distance, before the quartet kicked things off proper and the thumping and shouting soon came in. Following a great gallop towards its end, Doherty nearly galloped off stage himself, exiting through the back and swiftly returning with set lists for the band, booting over guitarist Louis Milburn’s equipment in the process. “A peak behind the curtain…” Said Harper with a laugh.
Along with percussionist Kai Akinde-Hummel, the noise of the drums sounded immense from the off and there was something so hypnotic about the two bodies hitting away, one stood and the other sat, four arms moving almost in unison. A force together in full flow, Akinde-Hummel’s hair was flying all about him as he vibed off the beat of ‘Four Wheel Drive’. On their debut EP, there were whispers that they were the UK’s answer to Canadian outfit CRACK CLOUD and on Thursday night, Harper did nothing to shift this, yelping away in his black tank top like a southern Zach Choy, glistening as he sang with a similar intensity. There was a hint of N0V3L too (the offshoot of CRACK CLOUD) on debut single ‘Fashionista’, brilliantly opened with a great plink plonk intro from Akinde-Hummel.
As light gleamed off the tuning peg of the bass, an elderly lady to my left filmed half a song with the flash blinding from her camera phone. Guitarist Milburn bounced about on the tips of his toes on ‘Pressure Pad’, his expression often of the ‘let’s ave it‘ variety (when he wasn’t catching a look at his bandmates with a big smile on his face). He announced that his hands had been numb for the first two songs as he’d put Deep Heat on for his stiff neck and forgot to wash it off. Deep Heat a triumph, he was soon jumping up and down and slapping the ceiling above him on fan favourite ‘Butt No Rifle’, as Harper belted out the chorus, vocals whizzing past my head towards the stage from a number of energised individuals behind me.
Akinde-Hummel – moments after shaking the hell out of an egg shaker – jumped behind the kit on ‘I’ll Do What I Can’, but was practically bouncing out of his seat as he thumped away. Harper, having switched places, held onto the microphone stand for dear life as they raced through the rapid chorus, using his fists and palms on the various bits of percussion rather than his sticks. He became a bit more of a Bowie type when up on his feet, more the pouting frontman than the sweating shouter behind the drums.
A right tasty pit opened up toward the end of ‘Frame’, closer from new album ‘Down There!’, and as we got shoved aside to make space for the joyous celebration from a select few, even the old fella stood in front of us got stuck in (later literally jumping on stage and shamelessly crawling past the drum kit to grab a set list…)
Unsurprisingly, given some were literally crawling on stage just to get a piece of them (!), Folly Group returned for a swift encore following much appreciation from the crowd. A big 1-2 thrill ride followed with personal favourites ‘Sand Fight’ and ‘I Raise You (The Price of Your Head)’ keeping the crowd moving without much of a breath between the two songs. As they hammered through the latter, percussionist Akinde-Hummel jumped down into the crowd and handed a cowbell and a drumstick to one lucky punter who had been singing back every word all night, the overjoyed fan soon clanging away as Akinde-Hummel screamed out the chorus and the band thundered away on stage.
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