Test Icicles

Young! Very young is the first thing that hits me when I move into the darkness of the Astoria on a fine summery Saturday evening. There are kids around me who must be half my age, or less, but I'm here to see the last ever Test Icicles gig, not look at the audience.

First up is Whirlwind Heat. Um, what can I say? I can't wait for Test Icicles to get onstage…. Song after song sounds little different in structure than the one before, and so they bore me. The lyrics are even worse than the “tunes”. One of them, we're told before it starts, is about masturbation. Not sure why we had to be told, it's blindingly obvious from the lyrics! We're not kids you, you know? Well, some of us are… But even the kids would understand that going to “a clinic to donate some sperm” is about masturbation. But then maybe some of these kids haven't even…. I'll leave it alone now!

The Testies (does anyone actually call them this besides me?) come on to a roar from the crowd. A massive roar!! And a massive crowd! There's an electric atmosphere, this being the very last time that they will play live, having decided to disband, just when they have got big enough to fill a huge venue. And having only recorded one album. I'm still not sure why, do they even really know themselves?

They kick off with what I think is their best song, the single Circle, Square, Triangle. How are they going to top this, I think to myself. Their brand of indie doesn't fit in with the Kaisers, Franz Ferdinand or any other band for that matter, but it works. And damn well too! Never before have metal riffs, screeching guitars, drum loops and multiple screaming vocals all been thrown in a pot and come out so melodic! The kids love it! Three songs in, and there seems to be more sweaty bodies here than at the end of the London marathon.

As with all Test Icicles gigs that I have been to previously, this one is no different between songs. All three of them on the mic, and all vying for the crowd's attention. If other bands talked over each other, it usually sounds a bit ramshackle and unrehearsed…and it sounds like it for the Test Icicles, but it also makes you realise that they are having as much fun as the crowd. Maybe even more so!

There is a brief moment when the crowd don't know what to think, when Rory announces that his brother is going to play a song and blow your minds. He doesn't. It just acts as a breather until the Testies come back onstage for the fun to begin again.

It was quite sad to think that this was going to be their very last live performance, but they didn't disappoint. The short set ends with all of them creating as much noise as they can with a few other bodies onstage helping them.

And then it's over… The doors open and the bouncers start ushering everyone onto the streets. This may have been the last that we'll hear of Dev, Rory, and Sam together, but with no doubt in my mind, they will all be back onstage soon. You can see it's in their blood, they all love performing!