Get dancey with NYPC.
Playing to a half-filled room and having all the focus placed on the rest of the bill, it may have been easy for New Young Pony Club to slink on and off the NME Indie Rave Tour without drawing attention to themselves whilst the glow-sticked kids amused themselves. Thankfully though, they came onstage armed with a handful of sass, a mouthful of sneer and what turned out to be a set full of tunes, which more than helped in warming the crowd up for what would come later.
The most noticeable thing about the music was that there was a definite 1980's vibe to it, be it in the street talking vocals that recall Transvision Vamp or The Primitives or in the underlying keyboard riffs which pinged about at the heart of every track. Another nod to this era was lead singers Tahita Bulmer and her oversized sunglasses, which could have came straight from the set of 1980s movie.
As the set continued, the jaggy and jangly guitar cuts started dominating the songs, adding an extra edge and creating more sounds to dance around and it was apparent that the crowd were getting more into it, albeit still remaining slightly reserved. Bulmer seemed to acknowledge this by her attempts to cajole some more reaction from the crowd but by the final tracks call and response section, it was obvious there was some progress.
With opening acts it can be a bit hit and miss and whilst the crowd would later welcome more obvious favourites, New Young Pony club did themselves no harm at all with a compact and solid performance.