Futureheads and The Like

With the first flash of the strobe lights the frenetic scene was set for another Toronto Futureheads show after far too long (four years according to the band). They launched into latest album opener and title track The Chaos, counting us in with 5,4,3,2,1! It was instantly clear that the band hadn't lost the edge that had made me see them four or five times back in the day. The chords drove forward at lightning speed while the vocal interchange between the fab four (has that moniker been taken yet :P ) from the UK remained their signature. We didn't have to wonder long whether they'd satiate our appetite to hear tracks from their debut album, an appetite that remains since its 2004 release as the second track came from that self-titled effort. In fact, they said that it would be a night that was a medley of both new and old, but for the most part the main set swapped back and forth between newest album - a return to form - and their beloved oldest album. This was perfectly fine with me and I couldn't help but smile and shout along to one of the tightest groups around - always impressing me with their spot on delivery of dynamic tempo-shifting, multi-harmonizing music. As polished as they are, they do not appear road-weary but in fact seemed fresh and funny even with their banter (and the accents made them that much more endearing too I believe).
It is a toss-up for my favourite song from the new album so luckily for me they got The Heartbreak Song out of the way early in the set. In the middle they did slip in a This Is Not The World track Beginning of the Twist as well as the EP single Area much to the delight of my friends. Notable was their go-to Kate Bush cover Hounds of Love compete with the old gimmick (that never gets old) of splitting the crowd to harmonize on Uh-oh-ohs at the start.
After chanting out my other nominee for favourite new song, Jupiter, they left the stage cheekily telling us they'd be back in two minutes for an encore.
True to their word they returned with the only News and Tributes track, Skip to the End as requested, and continued with a few more requests - almost entirely for the old stuff - before finishing us off with Man Ray.

The excessively early show was already under way when we arrived at 8pm and stepped into a wind tunnel - or at least you'd think so with noise level. Everything was on crank and it took a few moments to make sense of what The Like were doing. Cutely dressed in tights and dresses these four women were no slouches behind their instruments. I'd previewed the LA band's music and had thought "60's girl pop, with an edge" and that proved mostly true. Like The Pipettes and even Gigi they wrote quick, upbeat, catchy songs with a roaring guitar and plentiful keys. Altogether alright.