Show Us Your Oh Face
Decked out in all black, The Futureheads took to the stage at the Henry Ford for the final show of their American tour last night. They've been in the Los Angeles area a lot during the past year, doing an Amoeba In-Store, a Troubador show, Coachella and a previous engagement at this same venue. What we love about the post-punk rockers from Sunderland, England is how much fun they have while performing together. They smile and laugh at each other. They joke with the audience. They told the surprisingly young (well, surprising to us, anyway) crowd to "shhhhh" several times during the show. They wryly asked for respect. Then they showed us their "oh" faces.
Just as they've done at other shows, Ross and Jaff split the audience in half for their sing-along crowd participation cover of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love". Jaff, who already spins and sputters with reckless joy throughout the entire show, took that energy to his mic stand and sang out loudly with us on the right side of the stage, "OH oh oh!", the ends of his mouth turning up in an odd but endearing rictus. Jaff was the English Joker and we were all the better for it.
The band played several new songs which we hope will end up on their follow up album to last year's self-titled full length. For now, though, the brothers Hyde, Ross and Jaff are heading back home. We just hope for not too long.
San Francisco's Every Move A Picture and LA's own The High Speed Scene also performed.