When Fun. came to Madison last March they were a band on the edge of stardom. They returned to Madison Jan. 24 with two number-one hits, huge festival shows in Milwaukee and Chicago and a gold record on their resume. But despite their recent success, Fun. still brings the same youthful exuberance to the stage that made them great a year ago.
What made Fun.’s most recent performance at UW’s Union South so refreshing was their ability to appeal to both new fans and die-hards alike. If you only came to hear their two big hits, it was still easy to get swept up in the music and sing along to their songs—even if you had never heard them. There was tremendous crowd involvement during “Barlights,” “Walking the Dog” and “All Alright”. And even the walls knew the words to “Some Nights” and “We are Young.”
Die-hard Fun. fans would have appreciated how perfectly the band combined their debut album Aim and Ignite with their latest and much more popular work Some Nights. At a live setting, it is easy to see how well the two albums fit together. Fun. has the ability to turn the energy up to 11 with a track like “One Foot” and then slow things down with “The Gambler,” an acoustic love song about the lead singer’s parents that cuts straight into the listener’s feelings.
The witty banter amongst the band members was also enjoyable to watch from the audience. The oddest, but maybe the best, part of the show was when lead guitarist, Jack Antonoff, told the crowd about his idea for a movie that included talking dogs, a love interest and weird porn. The crowd loved the idea, but the Fun.’s front man, Nate Ruess, explicitly disagreed with its’ creativity.
Fun. has handled their new found success extremely well. The band is still having a blast together, bringing a high level of energy to their shows and producing songs they want to sing. Fun. has achieved their popularity with songs young people can relate to. As a twenty-something, “We are young” embodies my own sense of youthful invincibility. When the music is loud and you are surrounded by hundreds of new best friends singing as loud as they can, why not set the world on fire?
It was a youthful spirit that made this show great. It’s youthful spirit that makes this band great. Fun. is the perfect escape for the students, whether it’s from school, work, relationships or anything else that brings you down. Their combination of guitars, pianos, and brass suspends reality for a bit and makes everyone believe that, on some nights, they can rule the world.
