The Ramona Flowers celebrate their ongoing success with an intimate show at Omeara that’s big on their vibrant new songs.
Size isn’t always everything. Just ask The Ramona Flowers. Over the last couple of months, playing Firenze Rocks Festival in Italy and supporting Tom Grennan at his summer shows, they’ve been able to stretch their legs on sprawling open air stages. Needless to say, Omeara’s is somewhat smaller.
But, while the reduced real estate cramps swaggering frontman Steve Bird’s style a little, there’s certainly nothing small about anybody’s performance tonight. In fact, my notebook is filled with the words “big” and “huge”: “big big chorus”, “big soaring vocal”, “huge chorus”, “big instrumental rush”, “big solo”, “huge climax”.
While underlining my desperately limited vocabulary, it also emphasises the power and expanse of The Ramona Flowers’ sound, refined over the last decade or so, across three albums, several EPs, and multiple remixes by the likes of Oliver Nelson and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. Imagine Simple Minds or Tears For Fears at the peak of their rousing, mid-’80s glory combined with the modern pop-rock flair of, say, Imagine Dragons. Like The Weeknd or Foals, think genuine, well-articulated depth and emotion blended with (mostly) euphoric retro-modern music.
On recent singles, The Ramona Flowers are taking that approach even further, with Bird having described their new music as “a celebration of still existing, still being alive, still making music and still having something to say”. Tonight, at Omeara, that celebration continues.
Frankie Beetlestone is the perfect warm up. The singer-songwriter from Sheffield is all youthful confidence, charm, and enthusiasm. His energetic “sneaky preview” set is dominated by unreleased songs that incorporate elements of guitar rock (Fake It Til You Make It, which has as much charisma as its title suggests); hip-hop-style spoken delivery (the disco-tinged Lucky Day); jangly indie pop (luminous upcoming single Popstar); and hints of ’90s alternative (Cannonball with its unstoppable Pixies meets New Order bassline). Last year’s single Sober Again sounds more urgent than the studio version, accompanied tonight by an audience waving their arms side to side in unison, while fizzing set-closer Everything’s Changing certainly strikes a chord with its universal refrain of “everybody wants to be someone”.
The Ramona Flowers effortlessly build on that audience connection despite not relying on their back catalogue. The emphasis tonight is very much on the new stuff and it’s a testament to their ability as songwriters and performers that the set sounds like one hit after another. There are many highlights. The suitably sunny California is a feelgood anthem that, thanks to drummer Ed Gallimore and keyboard players/guitarists Sam Dyson and Dave Betts, surges with an energy not present on the single. I Dance Alone is an all-out groover, grounded by touring member Dan Plimmer’s bounding bassline and Bird’s shouts of “get up”.
Musically, Fictions We Create begins quietly and intimately, but soon builds in force and volume to match the vocal’s intensity. Sins, a track about a troubled relationship with a parent, starts quietly too on its live debut. But the brooding, atmospheric synth and guitar accompaniment explodes into something even more dramatic, right on cue as Bird sings: “It hits me when I least expect it, I go off like a pyrotechnic”.
No Worries, with its audience-assisted chorus and pounding beat, and next single Gotta Get Home (the one with the “big big chorus” and a really impassioned vocal performance) are both destined to be sung at high volume by many people standing in a field somewhere next summer. The synth-heavy Luna really shows off Bird’s falsetto, before an almost forlorn Circus Leaving Town captures the end of the party feeling the band experienced when wrapping up their lockdown bubble recording session.
Hey You (big on synths and drums) and Mirrors (big on guitars and drums) both bring the attitude, before Up All Night brings the curtain down. Nile Rodgers doesn’t make an appearance to reprise his guitar part (he’s probably living it up in LA tonight), but that’s no problem. The five men on stage throw down a rendition far more dynamic (and complete with balearic break) than the one that’s become their most streamed single to date. Now, that’s huge.
The Ramona Flowers
Omeara, London
13th September 2022
Photo: Selena Ferro
- This article originally appeared on Louder Than War.
Nils van der Linden 