A small thunderstorm had just showered the Hyde Park crowd with fat rain drops when Fleet Foxes trudged onto the stage, looking like five Shaggy’s that had just stumbled out of the Mystery Machine. Drummer Josh Tillman acknowledged the sponsor stage and emphasised the bands purist philosophy by dryly commenting that: “Hard Rock Cafe was the reason they all became musicians” and that he fondly remembered “being taken for an ‘Aerosmith burger’ as a boy!”.
Following some elaborate harmonising and sound checks, Fleet Foxes started slowly with a couple of softer vocal numbers, which were unfamiliar to most of the crowd. Things soon picked up with the familiar strains of ‘Sun it Rises’ and ‘Your Protector’ and in succession as they appear on the album, excellent versions of ‘White Winter Hymnal’ and ‘Ragged Wood’ rang out, full of energy and invention. Lead Singer Robin Pecknold was left alone onstage to deliver a flawless version of ‘Oliver James’, though the second solo song that followed was less impressive and the crowd frankly seemed a little relieved when the rest of the band returned onstage.
Hyde Park then roared it’s appreciation when Fleet Foxes launched into ‘Mikonos’. An impressive set that gathered pace towards the end and finished on a high with an outstanding performance of the gorgeous ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’.
