Klaxons @ LMUSU
By Maria Pinto-Fernandes
Anticipation for this gig is palpable in the Met bar tonight and even the presently near-empty events room itself is buzzing.
These New Puritans are the first support and although their position of playing a set that fuses the all pervasive new rave with a more serious sound and some musical depth to a roomful of fluorescent hoodies isn't the most enviable, the band surpass all obstacles and more than do themselves justice. They don't seem like the sort of band who would be able to engage such a niche audience of largely pilled-up adolescents, but it's in their delivery and the strength of songs like 'Elvis' that they manage to pull it off. These New Puritans are fairly ordinary looking and certainly don't strike you as one of the key players of the new rave movement but in about half an hour, their energy coupled with musical merit proves, for now at least, that they've earned their musical stripes and coveted support slots such as these.
Shy Child are then a more established and arguably a more fitting band to pave the way for the current champions and leaders of the so-called new rave revolution. Having said that, in a set showcasing their 'Noise Won't Stop' LP the two piece from New York transcend the hype and the potentially stifling label of new rave. The band play singles such as 'Drop the Phone' and the rousing album track 'Astronaut' with equal relish and demonstrate that whilst they can sound polished and ear-lobe pleasing on record, they are capable of illustrating the often forgotten principle that the live show is where the heart should be at. Unfortunately, the outfit do have a tendency to stray towards the same old synths and drum beat but this proves immaterial for a set that shows they can deliver the goods onstage and justify their placing second on the bill only to Klaxons.
Klaxons do more than provide an explanation for their inescapable media maelstrom, tearing through tracks from their J.G. Ballard-referencing and MDMA-inspired 'Myths of the Near Future' album. Jamie Reynolds, Simon Taylor and James Righton together show why they are worthy of their place at the forefront of new rave and in fact, new music itself despite having been making distinctive and genuinely original music for some time now. Each track is played to an admirably high standard and met by unanimous crowd approval. All in all, simultaneous audience approval and appreciation for music of such an inimitable calibre.
Thank God for Klaxons.
