Bexhill snarled into surrender

Savages De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill ★★★★

Savages’ assault on the sleepy resort of Bexhill started quietly. The Anglo-French post-punk band arrived, all in black, on a darkened stage. “I need something new,” singer Jehnny Beth entreated, before the band exploded into life, driving her plea into the faces of the audience. “Surrender,” she sang later, “Surrender to me!” as wave upon wave of feedback broke around her.

Formed in London in 2011 as a reaction against a dull music scene, Savages set out to provide something “more wild and confident, and more sexy”. Their 2013 debut album, Silence

Yourself, mined influences from Siouxsie Sioux to the Stranglers.

Promoting their even more confident second album, Adore Life, the all-female group are like a fashion-shoot dream of a rock band brought to life. Poitiers-born Beth is impossibly compelling. Her perfect side-parting snaps back into place after sudden violent outbreaks of headbanging. She can be unexpectedly theatrical. Her hips curve. “If you don’t love me, you don’t love anybody,” she sang on The Answer.

At one point, she attempted to walk across the top of the audience. Her tottering progress was dramatic but possibly had more to do with the average age of the fans keeping her vertical, which looked closer to 50 than 18. The set reached an emotional high point with Adore. “I will die maybe tomorrow,” Beth wailed, Morrissey-like, “So I need to say…” The band paused. She waited for silence. The noise didn’t stop. A smile appeared on her face. “I adore life,” she sang. “Do you adore life?” It was so heartfelt, it was almost shocking.

The chugga-chugga posturing of 2014’s F------, was a let-down as an encore. Savages are already much better than that.