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The Lonely Surf/Fake A Smile

August 22, 2024 0 By Jon

The Bear Cave, Bournemouth

Billed as a Summer Ripper, I think we were all looking forward to one of those long, hot, summer evenings, with a couple of bands that like to bring those California vibes to the party. This being the Great British Summer, we shouldn’t have been surprised that the evening outside was wet and miserable, but hey, down in the dark realms of the Bear Cave, it doesn’t really matter what the weather is doing, and happily both bands brought sunshiney, beachy feels to our grateful ears.

Fake A Smile certainly looked like they could have starred as extras in the OC, with the floppy blonde hair and sunglasses. A laid-back attitude ran through the songs, with some woozy bass lines and a solid groove. With a good kind of monotony to the vocals and lyrics that gave off a Fontaines DC feel, mixed with a scruffy crunchiness to the rest of their sound that sounded just like The Strokes at times, it’s the kind of music that empties your head of thought and that you can just gently rock to – immersive and chilled in a way that makes you want more. The repetitive lyrics made it easy to sing along to at times, and I found the song “Amnesia” was stuck in my head for a few days afterwards (ironically).

Some songs were just that bit more upbeat and featured some clever lyrics which gave a good balance to the set and got everyone perfectly warmed up for the next band.

Fake A Smile 1–2–3–4

The Lonely Surf got off to a great start by coming out to Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer”, which, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest songs ever. Once we’d stopped making seagull noises at each other (just me?), we were all ready for some poppy, indie, punky, goodness. It was happy happy happy from start to finish, with catchy lyrics, some great ‘woo’ moments, and there was some funk in there that you couldn’t help but dance around to. The harmonies were on point, and there was plenty of musical talent on show, with the bassist for Fake A Smile, also being the guitarist in The Lonely Surf. The drummer was pretty good too… (Hi George!).

The infectious energy got the crowd moving, and clearly the creativity was rubbing off on the audience, with a chant of ‘after this one, we want one more’ being started – not the catchiest of chants, but happily the band provided all the catchiness required, with new song “Say What You Like” being a great sing-along close to a strong set.

The Lonely Surf 1–2–3–4–5–6

As we all went back out into the dark, wet, cold evening, at least we had a little sunshine in our hearts.

Set List
Fake A Smile
Amnesia
Wandering People
Shoot Me To The Moon
Jumping Jack Flash (Rolling Stones)
Take It Easy
Snow White
Prom Dress
Appetite

The Lonely Surf
12 Months Out
Happiness
Time Will Tell
Surf’s Up
Car Conversations
Losing It
Forget About It
Say What You Like
Keep It Together

Lines

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