EARLIER this year Wild Beasts headlined the Field Day festival in London – a gig which painted the band’s sound progression from rough and raw to subdued and polished as a bad thing. The crowd looked bored as the headliners failed to provide a crescendo to the day.
But on their own tour and at a venue as intimate as The Junction, Wild Beasts found the perfect platform for their beautifully-haunting sound.
Opening with the first track of their most recent album, Lion’s Share, the band signalled their intentions to display proudly their more melancholic side. Hayden Thorpe’s vocals paralyzed each and every member of the crowd, while it also became apparent to this reviewer that bassist Tom Fleming is responsible for the band’s incredible backing vocals (I thought it was all one bloke).
Arguably, it is their vocal range which has made them stand out from the crowd – All The King’s Men certainly made them stick in my mind – but that is not to forget the rest of the band.
In between Ben Little bowing his guitar for eerie chords and the aid of an extra pianist, the band played a blinding set finding the perfect balance between their old and material.
They only played one or two tracks from their 2008 album Limbo Panto, opting instead for the songs which are mostly responsible for the gig selling out. From their recent offering, Smother, Bed of Nails, Albatross, and Reach A Bit Further, sat along side the more jovial party tracks – Hooting and Howling – of their second album.
Ending on End Come Too Soon – a cunning trick the band must smile out inwardly each time they finish on it – asserted the best the band had to offer. Whereas in London in August, the drawn-out finale saw the crowd lose half its volume, here in Cambridge, the audience were too stunned to move.

Hugh Morris
hugh.morris@archant.co.uk