Disclosure - 08/03/14

 

Brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, known by their stage name of Disclosure have soared to fame and success over the past 18 months ever since the release of their much acclaimed single 'Latch', back in October 2012.  But don't think that this was the beginning of the electronic duo's career; prior to being frequently featured on mainstream radio stations, the pair released three EPs which were well received by fans of house and dance music.  And so it went from there.

I first saw Disclosure live at Reading Festival last year, and their set was enough to make me want to go to one of their headline shows. They soon announced a UK tour in March, and so I booked my tickets to see them at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 8th March.  Having never been to the venue before, I was surprised by the enormity of the place, and the fact that the show was completely sold out.

There were supposed to be two opening acts for the group; up and coming rapper, Joey Bada$$ and producer/DJ, Eats Everything.  Unfortunately Joey Bada$$ was suffering from a sore throat and was unable to perform, which meant that Eats Everything played a longer slot.  An hour and a half slot.  Now, don't get me wrong, I don't dislike dance music. But when a DJ plays the same beats over and over again for such a long period of time, it gets a little tedious. I was initially enjoying his set, but after a while, I was just bored. Especially whilst crammed into a tight and sweaty space with thousands of other people. Not so fun.

Disclosure eventually made an appearance on stage, and it was definitely worth the near three hour wait. Opening with their popular track, 'F For You', the crowd instantly seemed to liven up again. The electronic duo played a combination of songs from their debut album 'Settle', and older material from the previously released EPs. They also surprised the crowd with guest appearances from Eliza Doolittle, Aluna Francis (the female half of AlunaGeorge), Sasha Keable and Sam Smith to perform their collaborative tracks.  Highlights of the evening for me would have to be 'You & Me', 'Boiling' and 'Latch'.  What made it an even better gig was the fact that the brothers seemed to be completely overwhelmed by the number of people who had showed up to see them, which is something I always love to see in a band.

However, they did fail to play 'January' and 'Defeated No More', two tracks from the album that I absolutely love. I think I'd have much preferred those tracks to feature as opposed to the older stuff, but that's most likely just because I've listened to the album a million times over and know those songs better.  Another criticism I'd have, and this is absolutely nothing to do with the band themselves, is that the crowd had some unbelievably nasty people.  I won't mention any specific occurrences, but it seemed that some members of the audience were purely seeking unnecessary arguments, which is the last thing most people want when they go to a gig.

Despite all of that, I can honestly say that Disclosure put on one of the best performances that I've ever seen, and they should be ridiculously happy with how the show went.  Definitely go and see them if you ever get the chance.

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