Fleet Foxes at The Roundhouse

It took me a while to learn to love the Fleet Foxes but when I did I quickly became completely hooked and 'Fleet Foxes' was undoubtably one of the top three albums of last year. Its success and the recent Radio 1 airplay given to 'Mykonos' meant the band were able to sell out three nights at the Roundhouse and I saw them on Monday night.

I thought the evening was quite a strange mix because the band were superb and the performance would have made for an absolutely incredible gig at a smaller, more intimate venue. As it was, the size of the Roundhouse meant that actually seeing the band was quite a challenge for those of us who are somewhat shorter than 6ft and it meant that there were an awful lot of people there who seemed more interested in chatting to friends or talking on their mobile phone than actually enjoying the music.

That said, the music was superb. Opening with 'Sun Giant' and 'Sun It Rises' set the scene nicely, 'Ragged Wood' sounded great, the solo acoustic covers were very pretty. Best of all for me though was 'Oliver James' which was so spellbinding that even the chatting ceased and 'Your Protector' which built beautifully to a really powerful ending.

This gig made me wish I had the seen the band when they played the smaller Shepherds Bush Empire last year and I certainly don't think Fleet Foxes' music would suit any bigger venues than this but still a great night. 9/10 for the band...5/10 for the venue and the chatterers in their business suits.