I saw them again at Porchester Hall three days later. This time they rocked even harder. It wasa all-standing, I’d heard the new album in the interim, and had a better idea of what to expect. They mashed the set around a little bit, opening with the new Springsteen-esque rockabilly number “Keep The Car Running” instead of Black Mirror, a welcome change.
Win leapt into the crowd and got swallowed up for a few minutes, before emerging and dancing through the crowd like the pied piper, guitar held up in the air above him. I even enjoyed Régine Chassagne’s arch dramatic delivery of everything from vocals to accordion.
They finished again with Wake Up, apparently after a scuffle with a security guard. As Alan Partridge would no doubt have commented, the number of people crowded in the foyer surely exceeded sensible fire regulations. Anyway I found myself standing next to Chris Martin from Coldplay singing along to Arcade Fire in the chandalier-lit foyer of an old Victorian banqueting hall. Which was nice.