Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are mercurial substances when blended together seem to give the potent headiness that makes people swoon, scream with adulation at the very merest thought of having a hand touch a lock of hair and somehow make everything else in the world seem irrelevant; even for the briefest of moments. When the powerful aroma of burgeoning testosterone adds itself to the glitter of eye-liner, a theatrical moodiness and enough spray on pheromones to knock out the navigation systems of any passing passenger liner, then at some point those who made their way to rock gigs in the 1980s may have felt slightly caught unawares by the veneration shown by the crowd as the Fearless Vampire Killers made their way through their set in support of Medina Lake.

Fearless Vampire Killers certainly know how to wind up a crowd and watch them go, they perform with elegance and with both eyes on the music, whilst using some unseen ability in which to really get the crowd cheering at a volume that would have made the much loved Concorde bow its head in respect and to even, with great respect and admiration for doing so, getting the crowd to cheer loudly for a cover of Phil Collins and Philip Bailey’s track Easy Lover, which was played at such a high tempo, with such a growl at the back of the throat that the supposed vampires they were formed to kill would surely have run off into the night terrified for the lives at the very sound.

There are many groups in the distant and not so distant past that used their superb stage presence, the art of theatrical combined with good music in which ensnare the hearts of the fans; it is the reason in which music thrives, to have people fall in love with the music or idea that you exhibit in what can only be called processional. Mostly those bands have disappeared, or at the very least hanging on to old glories. However Fearless Vampire Killers have something different about them, their very appeal is infectious and on tracks such as All Hallows Eve and Could We Burn, Darling?  The infection rumbled through the crowd as they jumped higher in time to each note than a ferret being placed into a bucket hot water, sang harder than could be imagined and idolised for what seems all the right reasons.

Astonishing and quite spectacular!  

Ian D. Hall