The British trio delivered a strong set of songs from all three of its albums in its Forum debut on Friday.
A confession: When the Forum seemed just a bit more than half full 30 minutes before the xx was to take the stage on Friday I started to wonder whether the moody bloom was off the melancholy rose of the British trio for at least the casual fans who’d embraced its shadowy and emotional electronic rock in recent years.
Yes, they’d been terrific at Coachella’s main stage in April, and OK, they’d sold out the Hollywood Bowl just four years ago, but as showtime loomed closer it started to feel like the Shins across town at the half-as-big Greek Theatre might have a more-packed house on Friday.
Then the fans flooded in — apparently drinks on the terrace was a bigger draw than a fine set by opener Perfume Genius. And while the venue probably maxed out around three-quarters full, the enthusiasm of the audience, most of which seemed to be intimately familiar with songs from the self-titled debut, its follow-up “Coexist,” and this year’s “I See You,” created a bigger sense of excitement than many a sold-out Forum show I’ve covered in the past.
It surely thrilled the three members of the xx — singer-guitarist Romy Madley Croft, singer-bassist Oliver Sim, and beats-electronics-and-keyboard player Jamie Smith, best known by his stage name of Jamie xx.
“Like Oliver said, we’ve been looking forward to this gig for a very long time,” Croft said just after “On Hold,” the first of two songs in the band’s encore. “And we were reeeally nervous. But from the moment we walked on stage you’ve been so welcoming.”
That might be about as effusive as the typically stoic members of the xx ever get on stage, but they had reason to be happy, for in the 18 songs scattered over the 70 minutes that preceded Croft’s comments, the xx had delivered a lovely and moving night of music.
The show opened with “Intro,” an instrumental from the first record that immediately captures much of what the xx does best — loping single-string guitar and bass melodies from Croft and Sim that float above the electronics whipped up by Smith. “Crystalised,” which followed, layered in the band’s other key element, the dual vocals of the two singers who more often than not trade off verses before coming together on the choruses.
There’s a tightness in this band that’s always been there, and I use “always there” almost literally: Croft and Sim met as 3-year-olds in nursery school; Smith is the newcomer, not meeting the other two until they were 11-year-olds.
The first time I saw them — at Coachella in 2010 — they seemed musically strong but performance-wise shy, perhaps chalk that up to being only 20 or 21 at the time. But at the Forum on Friday, as at Coachella earlier this year, there was a confidence that might be called genteel British swagger, a sense of feeling strong on stage as early in the set they performed all three of the xx’s 2017 singles — “Say Something Loving,” “Dangerous,” and “I Dare You” — and basked politely in the applause and cheers that followed.
And Croft’s solo turn on “Performance,” just her and her guitar, would have been a stretch to imagine her doing in 2010 but this year feels natural and impressive, no real sign of the nerves to which she confessed before soloing for one of the first times perhaps at Coachella just five months earlier.
The production revealed its pleasures in the same subtle way that many of the xx’s songs can do. From muted lights above, around and below — the floor itself lit up at times — things slowly became more intricate, with tall panels of rippled mirrors slowly turning at times to reflect the lights and views of the musicians.
By the end of the show, when the glow of vibrant rainbows seemed to float from the stage over the front of the crowd on a few slow songs such as “Shelter,” or lasers beamed into the darkness on the more dance-oriented tunes such as the Jamie xx track “Loud Places,” it all felt sophisticated and fun.
All of that built to the final song of the encore, “Angels,” on which Croft and Sim sat back to let the crowd pick up parts of the lyrics, an echoing chorale, before everyone — band and fans, in a house that felt full — sang the number, and the show, to its warm conclusion.
When: Friday
Where: The Forum, Inglewood
