Fleet Foxes, The Clientele

When Camden’s most famous engine shed was reopened two-and-a-half years ago, its carefully timbered roof was built for night’s just like this. Sure the sound isn’t perfect - newly solo appreciated Fleet Fox Josh Tillman’s drums occasionally drown out Robin Pecknold more stretched vocals - but there are moments that are caught quite magnificently. Like the exquisite opening harmonies of Sun It Rises when, even at that early stage, you can tell all 2,500 present feel they’re in for something special. Or when all five hit their marks with trademark accuracy on Ragged Wood. Or when Pecknold silences the small gaggle at the bar with an unamplified version of the traditional Scottish folk song Katie Cruel.

But then a venue is only as good as the band on stage and this evening, thanks to head-scratching moment after head-scratching moment - the band of 2008 set the live standard for 2009. Just how far Fleet Foxes have come to sell out this, the first of three consecutive nights, is stressed and, well, stressed some more by support band The Clientele. During an uneventful set hinting that the West Coast-influenced four-piece are better heard on record, front man Alasdair MacLean tells us not once, but twice that Fleet Foxes used to open for them a couple of years ago in Seattle. “No, I’m serious,” he reiterates. When Robin Pecknold later assures the crowd that indeed he was, you get the feeling The Clientele have a slight chip on their shoulder about how their decent sized US profile hasn’t transferred to here at home.

The words ‘decent’ and ‘profile’ will never again be used for tonight’s main attraction however. They’ve made a handy knack of coinciding each London headline show with some monumental ladder climbing. First there was June’s ULU show that relegated the brilliant original co-hearliners Beach House to the support cast on the back of a flurry of 5-star reviews. Then there were November’s Shepherds Bush shows when those reviewers began heralding the band’s debut as the year’s best. And now, just eight months after its release, 300,000 platinum-befitting copies have been sold and the ascent shows no signs of slowing down. Why? Because Fleet Foxes keep getting better.

Tonight’s set is basically the very same as on their previous two visits. They begin with the unaccompanied ‘Sun It Rises‘, eventually break to allow Robin to wow with his cover of Judee Sill’s ‘Crayon Angels’ segued into Oliver James before returning and later finishing with ‘Mykonos.’ Again it’s Robin who’s first out to encore with ‘Tiger Mountain Peasant Song’ - and tonight he also meets a request for his favourite Dylan song with a quick blast of ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ - before all five wrap up with the ever-splendorous ’Blue Ridge Mountain’. Yet they’re better. They’re more confident, more stirring, more engaging. Even the on-stage banter - which was particularly hilarious in June - is funnier despite the swelled numbers looking on.

It was extremely interesting to read Robin Pecknold telling Pitchfork last November how he regarded both the band’s debut EP and album as failures. “I can hear every little thing that I would change,” he said, insisting he hasn’t rushed back in to make a better record by virtue of the songs evolving live. If his on-stage persona is anything to go on, he’d surely be too humble to admit Fleet Foxes are evolving at a rate greater than any other band. And if he does manage to ’succeed’ on album number two, then we might have to rethink this whole ratings system. 6/5 anyone?