Blog Post
FM + Sweet Crisis Dover Booking Hall Sunday 27th November
Laura DQ • 4 December 2022
Live Review
Sweet Crisis are that rare and joyful thing, a support band that are worth the price of admission alone. Their soulful blues rock channels the Black Crowes but detours into almost Floydian territory on the expansive Misty Haze. Frontman Leo Robarts has an impressive voice and howls through a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well with real intensity. They certainly get the audience on side and prove themselves ones to watch.
Has there ever been a band so shamefully underrated as FM? They should be regarded as one of the greats of AOR, their glossy soft rock par excellence discussed with as much reverence as the likes of Foreigner or Journey. And yet, they remain relatively under the radar; a happy secret for those of us in the know.
Tonight marks the last night of their tour in support of latest studio album 13 and the band’s 4th country in 4 days. Surprising then, that there are no noticeable signs of fatigue. In fact, opening number Synchronized is impressively bouncy; quite incredible that at this stage in their career, FM are still capable of penning songs like this and performing them to perfection.
The night progresses in a rush of blissful harmonies, sparkling keyboards, peerless melodies and irresistible choruses. Bad Luck powers in like the hit it should have been, Let Love Be the Leader an early highlight complete with singalong ‘woahs’, Tough It Out a real rocker. And with Steve Overland out front, a man who can still out-sing almost any of his contemporaries, what’s not to love?
The setlist takes in music from across the band’s career, but of course, it’s the songs from debut Indiscreet that get the biggest reaction. I Belong to the Night and That Girl have become anthemic and sound huge live, even better than their studio counterparts. We’re brought right up to date with two numbers from 13; Turn This Car Around is typical FM with its catchy refrain (that’s no bad thing) and the lush balladry of Long Road Home reveals keyboard player Jem Davis to be another accomplished songwriter, capable of pulling at the heartstrings.
And underpinning everything, bassist Merv Goldsworthy and drummer Pete Jupp provide rock solid foundations on which this music can soar. And soar it does, a jubilant Other Side of Midnight leaving no doubt that this is a band still impossibly at the top of its game.