25 August 2010 (gig)
27 August 2010
The Klaxons are officially back and if the furore and climbing sales for their new album have failed to convince you as such, their performance at Heaven tonight will have.
The gig for which tickets were like gold dust, served as a warm-up for the band’s home crowd ahead of their performance at the Reading & Leeds festivals this weekend.
It’s been a whopping three years since the group’s debut Mercury Award winning album Myths of the Near Future, but the considerable gap has done little to dilute the enthusiasm of their fan base who fill the underground club in Charing Cross desperate to hear them perform material from their new album Surfing the Void.
The Wessex four - Jamie Reynolds, James Righton, Simon Taylor and Steffan Halperin - waste no time in kick-starting their set with the catchy, punk-rock Flashover, which warm the crowd for the showcasing of additional tracks from the new album, 'The Same Space' and 'Future Memories'.
All three tracks are welcomed with same excitement and familiarity as their old material and it isn’t long before they’re rewarded for their support with the favourite, 'Gravity’s Rainbow'.
For years The Klaxons have had staff in record stores confused as to what genre their CDs belong to, having to date been linked with everything from dance and acid rave to punk-funk and alternative rock. Tonight’s gig does little to provide any clarity on this, as no one song performed is genre specific and the same cocktail of rave, dance and punk for which they are known best, is present once again in their newest offerings.
One noticeable difference to the older but just as excitable four, who jerk about the stage this evening, is the much heavier bass and drums throughout the set and the majority of their new songs. US rock producer, Ross Robinson has clearly been at play. Known best for his work with Slipknot, The Cure and Sepultura, you can’t help but feel the Klaxons have rocked things up a tad since the their last live performances, with Halperin hitting the skins so hard the crowd are forced to jump to the beat.
No sooner are you decided on them being an alternative rock band, when they unleash the dance floor favourites 'Atlantis to Interzone' and their popular cover of Grace’s 1980’s classic, 'It’s Not Over Yet', and you’re phased again by their ability to switch from one genre to another with seamless confidence. The crowd go wild, and a sea of hands wave aimlessly in the air as bodies gyrate in what little space there is, to the music.
Following a tight hour-long set and a predictable encore the band return to the stage to deliver the new alum’s title track, 'Surfing the Void', an unpredictable track that grows on you as it builds and has the crowd jumping once again.
A dramatic upbeat end to what has been an energetic and flawless set, the Klaxons leave a sweaty, energised crowd confident in their new material and their ability to entertain the 80,000 revellers awaiting their comeback at this weekend’s Reading & Leeds Festival.
Photo: Dan Howarth
