Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

When Fearless Vampire Killers last stood on the stage of the Academy in support to Medina Lake in 2013, the sense of the occasion was rife in the air. The mercurial, almost explosive substances of hopeful burgeoning testosterone mixed with feminine guile and raging hormones fighting it out over supremacy and the will of capitulation hung heavy in the air and the taste of being undefeatable rampant and undisguised. Nothing has changed in the intervening 18 months except for the air getting heavier and the crowd becoming more vocal, aside from that, to be at a Fearless Vampire gig is to be honoured.

Watching any band interact with their fans can be a strange beast of fascination, there is no burden to be carried but there is a certain amount of expected baggage, the thrill of the chase as certain crowd members will make their support more vocal than others or they may even try to dominate the band in a way that at times is unpalatable. The relationship between the five men on stage and their crowd is one though that has a slight shift in the dynamic compared to others, it is that rare symbiotic nature of the fed being urged on by their equals, the louder the screams, from both male and female devotees, the less likely there is of those screams being driven by sarcasm. There is no anguish in the crowd, no sense of domination, just the explosion of art that pours forth.

As songs such as Neon in the Dancehalls, Batten Down the Hatches and Bow Ties on Dead Guys ring out across the Academy air, the sense of musical intoxication driving home the spirit, the realisation of what is unfolding before you hits home with equal ferocity. It is the subjection of theatre that abounds, the velocity of drama and show business on stage and the praying masses adding texture and colour to the occasion. It is the mighty being offered sacrifice but with no victims, just a keen sense of timing and poise infecting all who watch.

Tracks such as Unbreakable Hearts, In Wondrous Rage, City Falls To Dust and the set closer At War With Thirst all added to the sense of theatre and for anybody in the crowd as May in all her glory gave Liverpool’s young music fans a night of sultry abandon, theatre was all consuming and physical.

A terrific night of music bought to the 02 Academy, Fearless Vampire Killers are in a class of their own.

Ian D. Hall