Fred Gibson: He’s got a name for being in a rock band, and as a co-writer ofGeorge Ezra’s ‘Shotgun’ he kind of did, but still it’s with synthesizers andunder the pseudonym of Fred Again. seduces. In a year and a half he hasalready released three albums, and then he also scored three hits with singlesthat are not on those albums: ‘Strong’ with Romy from The XX, ‘Turn on thelights again’ with Swedish House Mafia and ‘ Marea (We lost dancing)’ withherself. That song, which was released during the miserable quarantine time,perfectly captured the zeitgeist and set it on the way to the major festivals(Rock Werchter will follow next summer) and halls in the post-corona era.
His concert in the AB was sold out long in advance and no less than 7,312people were still looking for a ticket on Ticketswap. In other words, theevening was already like this hot like a dogs and then the concert had yetto begin. I don’t know if anyone had a thermometer with them, but I wouldn’trule out the mercury blasting out of the glass like a bullet from a cannon.
• Fred Again..: the dance floor ‘s new poster boy
But let’s start at the beginning. From backstage he had himself filmed and theimages projected on stage. Once he appeared in person, he was then filmed inthe audience by hundreds of phones, while his cameraman (who worked with aniPhone) filmed the audience. Welcome to the visual culture of 2022. And ohyes: the press photographers were not allowed access to the room.
Together with an extra keyboard player he stood on stage, he on the right, hiscompanion on the left and the projection screen in the middle. All guestsingers were projected onto it, so that they were absent but still feltpresent. Sometimes he also projected his binding texts there.
The duo started quietly, but by the fourth song (‘Kammy (Like I do)’) the seaof people was just as enthusiastic as the supporters who were a hundredmeters away celebrating Morocco’s qualification. Fire arrows were not fired,Fred Again.. took care of that himself with his songs that cracked like thewhip of a ringmaster. Soon he also crossed the hall to continue playing behindthe mixing desk. He willingly allowed himself to be hugged and touched on hisjourney, as if to make amends for what he so regretted with ‘Marea’: ‘ We’velost the hugs with friends and people that we loved’.
He played part of the set among the audience. Photo: fvo
During concerts, Fred Again.. makes his music partly live by hammering on asample pad to create rhythms. At those moments, his show is somewhatreminiscent of Marc Rebillet. House, jungle, tribal, grime, electro and evensoul: Fred Again.. put it all through the blender and suppose he had come tothe edge of the stage with cookies, the audience would have eaten them rightout of his hand – even if they had fallen to the ground first. The peoplebumped and clashed and protested and suddenly and yes, I know those verbsdon’t exist, but you know what I mean: the atmosphere was one to catch in abox and take home.
High Jump Championship
Halfway through the show, technical problems slowed things down a bit, but assoon as Fred Again.. started again, the floor turned into lava. Or was a highjump championship? And when he also asked to make as much light as possiblewith telephones, the room became a swarm of raised bare arms. It looked like ascene from Spencer Tunick – it was completely unclear that everyone was stillwearing their clothes.
The final half hour was nothing short of fantastic, including ‘Angie (I’vebeen lost)’ and ‘Delilah (Pull me out of this)’, often flying back and forthbetween danceable and melancholic. When ‘Marea’ finally came and the audiencewent completely loco, I started to cry with emotion at the sight of so manyhappy, exuberant, relieved, enthusiastic people. The closing song wastraditionally “Billie (Loving arms)” and we left the room with hundreds ofpeople still waiting long after the music had stopped. ‘ Put your loving armsaround me’ kept singing. This concert was not only hot, but also warmlyhuman. And if Fred Again.. hadn’t put two periods after his name to make itclear that a point is really a point, I would have asked him to start all overagain. And again and again and again..
Fred Again.., seen in the AB in Brussels on 1/12.