Live Review

Fickle Friends bring Dork's Christmas Night Out to life at the 100 Club

Snow may not be falling all around us, but that doesn’t mean annual traditions can’t feel just as festive. Take Dork’s Christmas Night Out, returning to the iconic 100 Club: a proper feel-good celebration in the kind of room built for nights like this.

Words:Jamie Muir

Photos:Lucy Cave

There may be no band better suited to that sense of togetherness than Fickle Friends. A mainstay of Your Favourite Music Magazine since the very start, their knack for hooky choruses and bright-eyed chimes has made them a beloved force. After a year that’s seen them re-establish their credentials in a new era, the intimate crush of the 100 Club feels like the perfect, packed-out reminder of what they mean to so many.

Truly poised to take club-soaked heartbreak and euphoria up a gear, samxemma are a blast of post-'Brat' release energy that turns the 100 Club into their own dance floor. Hypnotising melodies with an auto-tune-bending immediacy land right in electronica’s sweet spot, with the drum’n’bass skittles of ‘YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU’ and the bouncing bop of ‘Me forever :(‘ lighting up the room. Equal parts escape and emotional release, samxemma show how to throw an electric party that still keeps its heart front and centre. As ‘HOT BOYS MAKE HOT MUSIC’ sees Emma dive into the crowd and whip everyone into a spin, they make a convincing case that a new era is coming, and it’s coming in hot.

“We have some news,” announces Fickle Friends’ lead singer Natti Shiner. “Santa has actually paid us a visit this evening.” It’s not a hint at a surprise collab album, but as the band start handing out free vinyl and caps to a sold-out 100 Club, it’s hard to argue with the spirit. If any band know how to bottle a party at full brightness, it’s Fickle Friends, and that’s clear from the moment they take to the stage.

With a back catalogue steeped in indie-pop magic, early bursts like ‘Glue’ and ‘Hello Hello’ set the tone instantly, and the room quickly starts to feel like theirs. It hits the point of nights like this: worries left at the door, and a band guiding you through a set that keeps smiles fixed from start to finish. Whether it’s the spinning tropical punch of ‘Say No More’ or the shouted-back ‘Brooklyn’, their story is packed with songs that have soundtracked plenty of people’s lives.

That connection carries into material pulled from their self-titled third album, released earlier this year, landing with the ease of songs that have been around for ages and finding a band fully locked in. ‘Swoon’ is sunshine pop at its most buoyant, ‘Fantasy’ struts on synth-bass swagger, ‘Feral’ goes playful and super-sized, and ‘Happier’ has the whole 100 Club singing in unison to its empowering core. It makes for a glorious reaffirmation of Fickle Friends’ ‘your favourite band’ potential, bigger and bolder than ever.

And they still save room for a seasonal moment: the festive singalong of their own Xmas song ‘My Favourite Day’ glints around the room, before a closing one-two of ‘Pretty Great’ and ‘Swim’ sends the 100 Club into pogoing masses and drowned-out voices. Fickle Friends don’t just have Christmas on lock tonight - they’ve got indie-pop in the palm of their hands.