April 14, 2009 20:22

Friendly Fires incite dance party in LA Friendly Fires Tickets

The St Albans band sell out the Troubadour

Photo Gallery: Friendly Fires
Photo: Richard Johnson

Friendly Fires instigated an all-out dance party at the Troubadour in Los Angeles last night (April 13).

The St Albans dance-rock purveyors delivered an energetic set that included nearly every song from their recent self-titled debut album.

"We're Friendly Fires from the UK, thanks for coming out," frontman Ed Macfarlane told the capacity crowd when the band took the stage.

Launching right into 'Lovesick', the band, which included two extra members bringing them to a five-piece, shook their hips and danced around the stage from the very first moment of their 45-minute set.

The audience danced and clapped along throughout the night, reserving the biggest cheers for crowd-pleasers 'Jump In The Pool' and set-closer 'Paris'.

At the end of the night, the band returned for a brief encore of 'Ex Lover', during which guitarist Edd Gibson disappeared into the crowd and reappeared up in the balcony, causing the audience to erupt.

"I wanted to get chucked out of the Troubadour like John Lennon did," Gibson told NME.COM after the show. "It was so amazing to play in a venue with such an amazing history that everyone takes such pride in," he added.

Friendly Fires are gearing up for their first-ever Coachella Festival performance on Sunday (April 19), which Gibson said the band are "ridiculously excited" about. "It's almost like Christmas," he said. "When we were kids in England we saw the immense lineup and gathering of everyone we love -- it was so out of reach for us and now to be able to play it as a band is ludicrous."

Earlier in the evening, hotly tipped Portland quintet Hockey warmed up the crowd with a lively set during which they previewed new material. "You definitely don't know this one but you could in June," frontman Benjamin Grubin told the crowd before they played their raucous new tune 'Put The Gag On'.

Friendly Fires played:

'Lovesick'
'Jump In The Pool'
'Skeleton Boy'
'In The Hospital'
'White Diamonds'
'Strobe'
'Photobooth'
'On Board'
'Paris'
'Ex Lover'

--By our Los Angeles staff.
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