29 September 2010 (gig)
04 October 2010
The Raindance Film Festival celebrated its 18th year of promoting the very best in UK independent cinema with an after party at Café De Paris last week. The place was packed with movie people and film fans that came to toast the opening day of the festival by watching an exclusive one-off performance by US band The Airborne Toxic Event. The reason for the appearance was due to the festival screening a music documentary about the band called ‘All I Ever Wanted’ a song that they closed the show with.
Taking their name from the book White Noise by Don DeLillo, The Airborne Toxic Event played their only UK show with gusto and a mix of old an new songs. Their fan base was clearly present by the screams that greeted the band as they stepped on the tiny stage. Opening with ‘Numb’ the band came off like jollier version of Interpol which is no bad thing. Their mix of musical styles was evident on tracks such as ‘Papillon’ and ‘Goodbye Horses’. The latter garnering a huge cheer form the crowd with its big choruses and ripe riffs, while the former showed a darker more serious edge to their sound.
At one point they invited a fan whose birthday it was up on stage to sing with them and rather than being cheesy it outlined the decency of this oft criticised but blatantly popular group. Their musicianship was faultless and they really put everything into the performance. This is a band that, while sounding wholly American have also soaked up many UK influences. Throughout their set there were hints of New Order, Editors and the occasional Smiths-y jangle. Combine this with the solid US rock sensibilities of The Strokes and the lyrical intellectualism of Arcade Fire and you have a very interesting band that exceeds expectations.
Taking most for their set from their self titled debut album they impressed with tracks like ‘Gasoline’ and the much heralded ‘Sometime Around Midnight’. The crowd may have thinned near the end but the true fans that stayed were rewarded with a faultless show from a band that we will definitely hearing more from in the future.
