Myths of the present.
A quiet walk on stage with little fanfare gave the first thought perhaps Klaxons were going to offer up a quieter fare for the evening and perhaps buck the trend and the image they are perceived to hold. This thought lasted all of a few seconds as they then launched into 'The Bouncer', a pulverising track with screamed vocals and hard-hitting volume. It doesn't let up for a second and with it being followed closely by 'From Atlantis To Interzone', the crowd seemed a bit taken aback by the brutality of the start. It would be fair to say that The Barras hadn't seen a scene of such carnage and confusion since the days of Bible John.
With the three members all prowling the front of the stage and the backlights whirring behind them, alternating from multicoloured to moody blue, there was a sense of foreboding and danger to the set and you can see why certain people have built up an image of this Nu-rave scene that could be off-putting.
Listening to their debut album though, its clear to see that Klaxons have a lot more about them than just punishing rhythms and mythical lyrics and it was no surprise when proceedings dropped down a gear or two. They certainly have more variety than they are being pigeonholed with but the slower tracks don't carry the same focus as their major hitters do.
On record, the more diverse tracks work well but the live show was a bit disjointed, ranging from rapid and heavy to passive immediately and it just didn't click. 'Golden Skans' is a fantastic single and its high chart placing proves it has its fans but the restrained version on show tonight just left the crowd wanting a bit more. It didn't deter Lovefoxx from CSS from crowd surfing throughout the track but looking around he crowd, there was a dip in the amount of dancing.
There was no noticeable dip in the amount of glow-sticks being thrown onto the stage and that's possibly one element of their image that the band wish they could change as they must spend the majority of their sets ducking and diving from the missiles directed towards them.
With 'Gravitys Rainbow' closing the set before an encore of 'Four Horsemen of 2012', no one can say that Klaxons lack the tunes to be a major success but perhaps at the moment they need more time. The speed of bands being pushed into headline slots and tours these days has risen dramatically and faced with playing an extended set, Klaxons seemed shorn of their immediate impact that they utilised so well back on their October tour. That's not to say it's a criticism of the band or that they lack the songs, because they are great and they've more than enough floor-fillers for a debut record but they perhaps need to find space away from the hype and clamour to ensure they develop into a band capable of producing numerous albums of this quality.