The Joy of Flex

The Joy Formidable

Birmingham O2 Academy

words and pictures by James Watkins

One of the UK's newest and most exciting indie rock bands flexed their musical muscles when they descended on the West Midlands, bringing ultra cool sounds.

Playing to a packed Academy 2, North Wales three-piece The Joy Formidable comprised Ritzy Bryan (vox/guitar), Rhydian Dafydd (bass/vox) and Matt Thomas (drums), who hails from Wolverhampton.

The trio simply mesmorised a raucous crowd, who had great expectations of the fast-rising combo.

Plugged by many to be this year's biggest new thing, they breezed through a set of songs from their debut album The Big Roar, with stand-out track being Austere.

The evening wasn't trouble free, as an early exit after a sound problem, saw Ritzy take to the mike and deliver some sharp puns to cheer the crowd up, before re-emerging as if nothing had happened.

Mixing the sounds of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's synth with the likes of Silversun Pickups and My Vitriol, The Joy Formidable had a muscular, buzzsaw sound.

oaring through the epic Everchanging Spectrum Of A Lie and the glam-popped Cradle, they finished the night with an epic eight-minute version of Whirring that blew the cobwebs from the speakers.

Undoubtedly one of the bands to catch now, before they get too big.