Review: FM, Bierkeller

FM are back at the Bierkeller and in the (lower reaches of) the chart, and we’re ready to rock like it’s 1987. One rather unexpected difference is the amount of media support they’re getting, which was always denied them first time round, with Shape I’m In from new album Heroes and Villains popping up regularly on Radio 2.

The mullets are long gone and the hair is greyer, but it’s clear from the off that FM are fighting fit on this first night of what must be their longest UK trek in decades. Opener Digging Up the Dirt showcases the more muscular approach of their newer material, which should stand them in good stead when they hit the European metalfest circuit in the summer, as will Jim Kirkpatrick’s way with a searing guitar solo. I Belong to the Night whisks us straight back to the band’s 1986 debut Indiscreet, and is one of the few songs in their set to show its age – mostly because of that very ’80s keyboard sound.

Thanks to an audience eager to sing along with gusto to just about everything, including such rarely played gems as Blood and Gasoline, it’s not long before vocalist Steve Overland and bassist Merv Goldsworthy are trading mile-wide grins. Overland’s magnificent, soulful voice is undiminished by the passing years, and he retains the rare ability to deliver the cheesiest of lyrics with absolute conviction, which is a particular advantage in this genre.

There’s not a single duff song in the set, each and every one being what is modishly described as an earworm. Those harmonies in the singalong Let Love be the Leader sound absolutely magnificent, Closer to Heaven fulfils the mandatory power ballad obligation effectively, and Bad Luck – which might be considered FM’s unofficial career anthem – proves a perfect ending. Recent songs such as Crosstown Train and Wildside slot in comfortably alongside the vintage material, though it would have been nice to hear a little more from Heroes and Villains. Yet another showcase for Overland’s remarkable vocal abilities, Story of My Life kicks off the encore, followed by oldie Other Side of Midnight, which provides Jem Davis with all the excuse he needs to break out the wretched keytar.

It helps their cause that so few bands choose to play this kind of unpretentious, hook-laden melodic rock any more, and no one in this country does so at FM’s level of accomplishment. Indeed, these are type of songs that 96.7% (estimate) of Bon Jovi fans wish the Jove would still write instead of straining to become the Poundstretcher Springsteen. Having taken 12 years off for good behaviour between 1995 and 2007, FM may yet find that they’re finally in the right place at the right time.