Hard-Fi team up with very special guest

Mod legend Paul Weller plays with Richard Archer's men

Hard-Fi were joined by a surprise special guest tonight (May 15) for the second show of their five-night residency at Brixton Academy.

The Staines four-piece teamed up with the Modfather Paul Weller during the encore for The Jam classic ‘A Town Called Malice’ before he returned the favour and helped them out on album title track ‘Stars of CCTV’.

Speaking about the performance after the show, which was watched by the likes of Huey from the Fun Lovin’ Criminals and Hollywood actor Clive Owen, frontman Richard Archer told NME.COM: “It was amazing playing with Weller. He’s such a nice guy as well. To be fair every gig we’ve played has been great. But our family were here tonight and the crowd were immense.

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“They were singing at the top of their voices. We had these ear monitors in and normally you kind of get cut off from the crowd. But they were so loud. It was overwhelming.”

Earlier, the band ran through a 70-minute setlist which included two new tracks – ‘Surburban Knights’ and ‘You And Me’ – a cover of Big Audio Dynamite‘s ‘E=MC2’ plus hit singles ‘Better Do Better’, ‘Hard To Beat’, ‘Tied Up Too Tight’, ‘Living For The Weekend’ and ‘Cash Machine’.

Kicking off the show with ‘Middle Eastern Holiday’ against a backdrop of images from the Iraq conflict, Hard-Fi had the crowd on their feet for most of the night, sparking mass sing and clap-a-longs.

Many fans struggled to get to the show on time following severe tube delays on the Victoria Line, leading Archer to quip as he launched into new track ‘Surburban Knights’: “The tubes tried to fuck us over but we got here all the same.”

During the encore the singer performed ‘Move On Now’ on his own before an organ was wheeled onstage and he made the surprise announcement: “We live in Staines in west London and just down the road is a town called Malice. Brixton raise the roof for Paul Weller.”

Archer then got behind the organ while the Modfather sang the vocals on the legendary hit single.

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The former Jam singer returned the favour by taking over the guitar duties for ‘Stars Of CCTV’.

Tearing into hit single ‘Living For The Weekend’ the Hard-Fi singer sent the crowd into a wild frenzy at the end when he said: “So it’s Monday night. It’s crap. The tubes are fucked and once again there’s work tomorrow. So let’s do something about it Brixton Academy, right here, right now.”

Support came from guest star Billy Bragg and Professor Green.

Hard-Fi played:

‘Intro’

‘Middle Eastern Holiday’

‘Gotta Reason’

‘Surburban Knights’

‘Tied Up Too Tight’

‘Feltham Is Singing Out’

‘You And Me’

‘Unnecessary Trouble’

‘Better Do Better’

‘E=MC2’

‘Cash Machine’

‘Hard To Beat’

‘Move On Now’

‘Town Called Malice’

‘Stars Of CCTV’

‘Living For The Weekend’

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