The White Lies are looking live for a way out of today’s unrest
“As I Try Not to Fall Apart” is still a current collection, to which the White Lies have moved again. Live in Prague, they then offered a well-trodden ride, during which not only the proven tracks from “To Lose My Life” took place. Fans of their favorites have traditionally missed the evening, but the evening was still missing.
Live: White lies
place: Lucerna Music Bar, Prague
date: May 5, 2022
Support: Charming liars
setlist: Farewell to the Fairgrounds, There Goes Our Love Again, I Will Really Die, Lose My Life, Hurt My Heart, Time to Give, It’s My Love Enough, Step Out, EST, Big TV, There’s No Cure for It, Unfinished Business, Tokyo, I Don’t Want to Mars
Extras: Death as I try not to fall apart, bigger than us
© Petr Klapper
Although it didn’t look like it at the entrance to Prague’s Lucerna Music Bar, in the end an almost sold-out club gathered at White Lies – visitors came fully to their favorite band and let a lot of T-shirts sweat. Harry McVeigh’s gang left nothing to chance and bet one energetic song after another. However, only half of the news “As I Try Not to Fall Apart” was heard, and there was one more pitfall, but more on that later. Gentlemen to Hundred-towered they ride with almost iron regularity, but this regularity was topped by Charming Liars, who were given the task of luring the audience to the main stars. They last played in Prague about five weeks ago alongside Palay Royal. Frontman Kiliyan Maguire is in full swing diplomatic tasks and heckled the audience, which he did well. The answer was, for example, lit mobile phones during the sweeping “Favorite Show”, which could easily work at some larger open air event. The problem with Charming Liars lies more in the situation that they don’t know where to go musically – whether they want to be more guitar-oriented or pop-oriented (the “Favorite Show” is more from the second set). This year’s album “Tourniquet” is a mixture of everything that a very nice band is listening to at the moment, at the same time it is easily interchangeable, and unfortunately that has not changed since the past.
© Petr Klapper
After the necessary adjustments to the scene, during which many of the technicians greeted the ultras of the main star fans, Harry & spol. the whole set, “Farewell to the Fairground”, and they put all the cards they wanted to play that night on the table. The set pace worked excellently on the hot cauldron, the new “Am I Really Going to Die” and the immortal “To Lose My Life” fit just as well into this introductory block. But then something broke, sometimes during the songs “Is My Love Enough” and “Step Outside” all the energy was suddenly gone and even a light disco and funky beat didn’t help. What the musicians had been building so far had collapsed. “EST” started like this again. In “There Is No Cure for It” it seemed that Harry McVeigh was losing his breath and the cadence of the words in the verses was an unexpected problem. He only caught on at the end, when he started grading the recurring chorus. The question is whether there was fatigue behind it (Prague was the fourth concert in a row) or exhaled air in the club.
© Petr Klapper
The sound was also a snag. Accompanying vocals by bassist Charles Cave or keyboard tweaks often disappeared in the soundscape. The diversity of not only the aforementioned album “As I Try Not to Fall Apart” has been completely lost, as if the sound engineer wants to achieve a rawer sound from the peak of Joy Division. However, the “Unfinished Business” played was enough and all ailments were mostly forgotten. Thoughtful finals were provided by “Tokyo” or “I Don’t Want to Go to Mars”. The additional “Death” did not end, and “As I Try Not to Fall Apart” and “Bigger Than Us” followed. In the first mentioned, electronics finally came to the fore, and Charles also discovered a bass line on a small synthesizer. It froze one that it was so late.
The evening was so crowded, but it had a few cracks. White Lies cannot be denied the taste, commitment and cure for the unrest of the present. In addition, it is evident that they like to come back here. What the sound design of the set “As I Try Not to Fall Apart” promised in itself, but the live form did not materialize, and it turned out that it is better to bet on proven certainties (five songs from the debut “To Lose My Life … “, on the contrary” Ritual “was sold by only one item in the setlist). However, the reaction was satisfied. We would not have to wait too long for an imaginary repair.