KALEO at Wembley Arena

Even if you’ve never heard of Iceland’s KALEO before, you’ve probably heard their music somewhere – in a coffee shop, on a perfume or car advert or TV show.

That’s because their specific blend of bluesy rock has a degree of grandeur but is melodically attractive to be unobtrusively pleasing on the ear when in the background. It doesn’t slip into the background when they perform on a November night at the OVO Wembley Arena in North London on their Payback tour.

Having gained huge international recognition back in 2016 with their hit album A/B, the group has been less active since, releasing only 2021’s Surface Sounds before recent singles.

Live, there’s an earthiness that sets them above the glut of – usually American soft rock – bands whose music also seems to be everywhere on TV. It’s proper blues, with frontman Jökull Júlíusson (aka JJ) living up to his Stevie Ray Vaughan style outfit alongside Rubin Pollock on lead guitar, with their work often interspersed Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson’s harmonica solos.

In the first half of the night, there is a slight sameyness to their set – the drawback of blues’ perfectly formed rules is that it restricts you to its classic sound. At times one throaty elegy to troubles of the heart can blend into one – though mournful new release USA Today, A/B’s Broken Bones and the sprawling I Can’t Go on Without You are highlights.

It’s at the back end of the gig that things, and the Wembley crowd, truly get going. Firstly with KALEO’s biggest hit, Way Down We Go, a piano-laden epic whose excellence has not been lessened by nearly a decade of ubiquity that most recently saw it pop up in a Deadpool & Wolverine trailer.

Ostensive closer No Good is then a thumping good time – before an encore that steps up matters again. The unreleased Back Door combines their natural bluesy sound with sensibilities nearer the scuzzy garage rock of New York’s 2000s indie scene.

That seems to be a creative direction the band is going, as after Glass House, a track from A/B that fits that shift, they close with recent single Rock N Roller, providing a raucous ending.

It’s a concert that’s offered relentlessly competent blues rock that will please devotees, elevated into something far more enjoyable by its closing turn, one that proves KALEO has plenty more to offer beyond pleasing lazy advertising executives wanting to make their product seem more edgy and epic.

Mark Worgan
Photos: Virginie Viche

For further information and future events visit KALEO’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Way Down We Go here: