Imre recently made me aware of a new British sensation: the Infadels. After checking out their album We Are Not the Infadels, her enthusiasm for this band got a hold of me. So, I decided to go a gig as soon as I possibly could.
Venue
It took place at the main stage of Patronaat in Haarlem the Netherlands. I am pretty bad at estimating numbers but the hall would probably fit about a thousand people, with about 800 there during the gig. I was standing right in front of the stage, the sound was great, but standing there gave me a bit of a neck cramp.
Though the ticket said Infadels + support, the stage was set for the Infadels to play when I got there. No support act apparently. When the Infadels entered the stage I was quite surprised, I had only seen one picture of them before. They are not what you expect to see, when listening to their songs. A short front man covered in bling (and a calculator or remote control watch), a guitar player looking like a mix between Justin Timberlake and a mobster, a crazy key player and a drummer with the biggest grin on his face I’ve ever seen.
They started right of with Love Like Semtex followed by Top Boy, Murder That Sound, Can’t Get Enough and more. During the gig Front man Bnann was doing weird dances and strange moves. I loved it! Guitarist Matt seemed very laid back until he started to dance. The crowd went wild! The Infadels proved to be real entertainers. And after all the percussion violence it was a nice surprise when Bnann entered the stage for the encore and played a semi acoustic track, later joined by Matt playing a kid’s toy instrument.
The lack of a support act wasn’t noticeable at all. The crowd warmed up the minute the Infadels struck the first chords of Love Like Semtex. The band really worked with the audience, demanding cheers and hand clapping. The weird dances of the charismatic front man and the use of an old zinc garbage bin as extra drums and pedestal only added to the fun!
Verdict: Great atmosphere, great crowd, amazing band! This is a must see. Even inside the dark venue I felt like being outside in the sun.
Pictures of this gig are here!