Live: Fun. at Academy 1

“You only live once. That’s a phrase, not an abbreviation,” announced Nate Reuss, front-man of the indie pop group, Fun (stylised as “fun.”), to the audience at the Academy last Sunday. This phrase seems totally apt for this New York based group, whose struggle for a recognised place in the music world has only recently begun to bear fruit.

The success of their single, ‘We are Young’ was repeated shortly after its release by the success of ‘Some Nights’, but these two tracks are gems lodged in a fairly dull songbook.

In a post-Glee society, Fun’s repetitive and unoriginal tracks certainly have a place in the music world, but it’s a seat near the back. ‘We are Young’ and ‘Some Nights’ have earned them a chair nearer the front. How long they’ll stay there is anyone’s guess, but given the quality of their performance last week, they may be around for a while.

Fun’s fan base was out in force, and the band didn’t disappoint. With a warm up from the Ohio-based quartet, ‘Walk the Moon’, Reuss and co proved they know how to get a crowd going.

Reuss’s energy on stage is brilliant to watch, as is the enthusiasm of his bandmates, and it’s almost impossible not to get sucked into the fun-loving (no pun intended, honestly) uproar of ‘Some Nights’, which the band played as an encore.

‘We are Young’ and ‘It Gets Better’ were also highlights, but the surprise triumph of the night was an impressive cover of ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, that Rolling Stones classic.

This band can put on a great show, and if they can polish up their songbook, they will be unmissable. At the moment, however, they are simply well worth a watch – and no more than that.