Review: The Felice Brothers, The Fleece

It’s become a bit of a thing now, The Felice Brothers stopping off in Bristol after End of the Road Festival performances – but we sure ain’t complaining. Here they play their almost-namesake, The Fleece. A fine environment for this brand of upbeat Americana.

‘You’ve got a good thing going on here’, says frontman of sorts Ian Felice. ‘Bristol’s my favourite city in the UK. I know cos I’ve spent the day walking around it.’ A sincere statement from our fair city’s latest fan and one which bodes well for a wealth of future gigs from the Felice Brothers.

Full to the rafters with 30 and 40 somethings as well as the odd discerning younger punter, the atmosphere in The Fleece is one of excitement and expectation. Anyone who’s seen these boys before, know they’re in for an energetic, yet sometimes poignant set of Dylan-esque songs with a touch of the Springsteens about them.

Hailing from New York, The Felice Brothers now only consists of two brothers (used to be three with Simone Felice), but the group appears as a band of brothers each taking it in turns to step up to the mic and show the world (The Fleece) what they can do.

Ian’s vocals are always a treat to behold, wavering yet strong, they convey the utmost emotion in songs which are lyrically heartbreaking in places and defiant in others.

Brother James Felice has lost a fair bit of weight in recent years and early on in the set, you wonder whether his voice has gone with it – but it seems the problem is the sound desk not Jimmy boy and by the second half his vocals are shining as bright as brother Ian’s. Deep, soulful tones providing an alternative to the somewhat younger-sounding vocals elsewhere in the group.

Two songs in and we get the tender, beautiful ‘Big Surprise’ before being hit with fan-favourite ‘Whisky in my Whisky’ – prompting a singalong to the compelling chorus: ‘I put some whisky into my whisky’. Awesome and imaginative lyrics run through tonight’s performance, with Ian wailing (in a good way), ‘I ain’t got a lot, but all I got, You’re welcome to it, Cause I’m alright if you’re alright’ during ‘Take This Bread’.

The set features two songs named after cars – ‘White Limousine’ and ‘Honda Civic’, on which bassist Greg takes lead vocals – it’s a different sound but works well among the colourful set. Multi-talented, Greg shuffles across to the drum kit to give David a helping hand during ‘The Last Day On Earth’, creating a sparse tribal sound to accompany James’ finest vocal solo. However, as hinted at earlier, Ian steals the show with his voice – which truly shines on the spellbinding ‘Meadow Of A Dream’.

‘Dead Dog’ acts as a traditional folk segue which paves the way for a knees-up style singalong and more good times with the extremely well-received ‘Ballad of Lou The Welterweight’ – all together now: ‘Powder your nose, pull off your pantyhose…’ The set ends with a reworked version of ‘Penn Station’ from ‘Yonder is the Clock’.

After a short break, the lads return to bust out their biggest hit ‘Frankie’s Gun’ – where many bands appear annoyed about playing their biggest hits, these guys don’t shy away from it but sometimes it doesn’t quite live up to the hype, especially in an excellent set of other material. And preceding the unforgettable ‘Marie’, this is kind of the case here a bit. That said, the entire band takes it in turns to sing here and it works very well indeed.

Christmas Clapton looks like he should be a Felice brother – he’s got the same small frame of Ian and similar features, but he’s not, he’s actually a Rawson. I digress. His delivery of ‘Marie’ is inspired and the disdain with which he spits the line: ‘You say this song’s in G baby, I don’t give a f*cking sh*t, this song’s in key’ is exceptional – leaving you wishing he had a bigger role on the singing front.

But you’re not left wanting at the end of this gig – another blinding set by one of Americana’s most underrated acts.