Hannah Taylor finds FFAF have come full-circle... but what about their fans?

Thrown in to the deep end to review FFAF, my usually East London-located friend and I climbed the O2 Academy stairs (Zodiac to those old school types) to be greeted by the all too familiar smell of sweaty teenage boy. This may not sound overly appealing, but as a forerunner to a FFAF gig, this bodes well and to an O2 regular, is actually the sweet aroma of a good Friday or Saturday night out, under the influence.

My last FFAF gig, many moons ago, saw the band uniformed up in corresponding black and emo sweatbands, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a band (albeit a much altered line-up) more comfortable in their own individual skins (with obligatory technicolour tattoos) and their own music.

There is no doubt that FFAF have decided to come full circle, stand on their own heavy metal feet and go back to their roots, with frenetic, out of the blocks new songs from 6th album Conduit, such as 2.45mins of quick-arse drumming during ‘Best Friends and Hospital Beds’.

Yet, the numbers in the circle pit suggest that not all their fans are quite keeping pace with the back-to-old-school direction.

Overwhelmingly, the not quite-so-old anthemic tunes went down the best, with the pit paused to ‘raise their fingers for one last salute’ for ‘History’, or contemplate being ‘sick and tired of always being the good guy’, during ‘All the Rage’.

Don't get me wrong, a frantic two minutes to get the blood racing, the boys and girls even sweatier, is never un-called for, but will it stick in the memory? I’m not so sure. A band forgets the pit watchers at their peril…