Live Review: Franc Moody - O2 Academy Brixton, London 03/04/2025
Franc Moody shows us all the colours at O2 Brixton.
I last saw Franc Moody in London at the O2 Eventim Apollo in March two years ago. What I remembered from that was a good show, brightly coloured lights and posting a photo of what I can only describe as a red cider served in a plastic teapot on my instagram story - if you’ve been to the venue you’ll know what I’m talking about. This vibe was my expectation for tonight, sans teapot. During our second support (a DJ set by Skinshape) disposable cameras were handed out and I think that gesture is a good way to indicate that a band just wants you to have a good time with your friends.
The show started with a late performance from Night Tales. Imagine the love child of Fleetwood Mac and Aurora because I felt like that’s what I was looking at. You might know the song “drifting” and recognise it as I did when they played it as the last song of the set. These guys would have killed it at a festival in the early 2010s. Frank Moody themselves were standing in the general area too and that’s always an up from me, seeing musicians coming out and enjoying the support acts themselves, artists supporting artists.
Skinshape was next and a great support. Skinshape is great in general - British artist Will Dorey doesn’t have a biography on Spotify (he does however have a recipe for Ethiopian scrambled eggs which look lush - can someone please try this recipe and reach out to WTHB so I can know?) but he’s a down to earth bloke, represented in his interviews and a live show he did during Covid that I can only describe as Will playing his guitar in his living room and broadcasting out to ours. He also has a small reggae label, as if he wasn’t chill enough. His music is super psychedelic and fans of Khruangbin and Lord Echo will immediately feel at home - get “Don’t Call My Name” on at your next BBQ. Skinshape did a DJ set tonight which made sense given the electronic sets we’d be seeing. When he was on stage he was hidden in a dark corner but from my vantage point I could see him taking each track out of its vinyl sleeve and I enjoying the mix of old music and world music on vinyl.
Franc Moody are on their album tour for ‘Chewing the Fat’, their latest released on March 7th this year. The name really doesn’t sit right with me (I know it’s a colloquial term for gossiping but I can’t get past the literal phrase) but it’s a great album. During the show, the lads told us that they had originally finished the album and been told it was too short and to add another track, which they’re “really glad we did” because secret last track Punchline belongs on the album. I enjoyed it live and it’s an incentive to get the vinyl now I know there’s a vinyl-only track.
This show was louder than most, even stood at the back you could feel the music vibrating up your femurs. They opened with synth and a smoke machine (we would expect nothing less) for track ‘Space Between Us’ and Franc Moody had a big task of getting the crowd energised because we’d been a bit dead. Maybe everyone was tired because the new rules at Brixton have you walk the entire circumference of the building to get in? I’m just kidding. Everybody in here was bobbing their head, the energy was bubbling up slowly. Frontman Ned Franc addressed the crowd to quite a large cheer and he played the hell out of his instrument, as if being confined to it to play the notes interrupts the dancing and movements he wants to be making, but this wasn’t out of place when the song was amplified by live brass musicians behind.
Losing the band for Terra Firma on track two, just the two men were then visible in the blue light and the heavy funk and bass drum of the song were reminiscent of Daft Punk. Franc timed a little run to the front and got a big cheer - he had enough energy for 10 crowds tonight. Addressing the crowd at this point, frontman Moody explained that this was a bucket list for them and they’ll give us one hell of a show. So far we’ve had different lights for each song ranging from royal blue to warm sunsets of orange and the band are each stood on their own lit platform. At the end of the show I realised we’d had every colour of lights changing for each song. This is what I remember from before and they’d built on their lights and shadows to make it visually great just like last time. They revealed they’d supported friendly fires in 2018 and dreamed of a show here and I always enjoy seeing London artists play in London because you always get that gratitude and enjoyment come across to the crowd.
The show changed pace at times. The lighting shifted to a soft pink for new song ‘Square Pegs In Round Holes’ and I asked the opinion of the people around me. It’s slower but a “great song though” agreed the man next to me in the crowd. Both Franc and Moody are good singers but Moody mainly stood out for this track, he has a great voice that sounded more melodic in person. The song built with the brass band coming back and then joined with a bass guitar - a nice little treat of a music show that differs from the album version.
At times, the crowd joined in with cheers and claps, and the dancing built up throughout. Track 8 ‘Night Flight’ was a funky performance and if that didn’t get people moving, they must have been really feeling that Thursday tiredness. We’ve had every colour of light on stage this evening and the crowd have been quick to cheer and clap. There was the biggest cheer, clapping and singing along to the opening lyrics “I love it” when Losing touch came on. Everyone was feeling the energy of Franc now, and Losing Touch is clearly a fan favourite. The most exciting performance for me was ‘Dream In Colour’ - the show up until this point had been more colourful than any other and then when the song started in white lights only, I knew heavy colour was coming in the chorus. Naturally as they sang the chorus a rainbow light display flashed for us. The production of this was great and it’s such an underrated part of performances sometimes. The crowd loved this song and the entire room sang along to the chorus.
Bands don’t seem to do encores much anymore and Franc Moody said thanks and goodbye before their last song, ‘Chewing The Fat’. We knew they’d be coming back on as soon as we clocked they hadn’t played Dopamine, and considering headlining a show was their dream, you knew they wouldn’t pass on the opportunity for an encore performance.
Franc Moody - infinitely worth seeing. Bring earplugs, expect mullets.
Words by Jemma Sharpe
Photography by Abigail Shii
