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Klaxons / Damn Arms

Tuesday, 30 October 2007

Photo: Aaron Sammut

The Tivoli - Sat Oct 27

Given how quickly this concert had sold out, I had expected the Tiv to be packed like a tin full of nu-rave sardines tonight, but the crowd here is easy to move through and well-behaved. Even more surprisingly, there’s not much neon nu-rave clothing on display, either (What a relief! – Ed).

With all preconceptions shattered, I’m ready to experience Damn Arms, whose live sound is somewhere between Aussie dance-rock heroes Cut Copy and early-nineties shoegazer. Singer and bassist Tim Sullivan delivers the band’s lyrics in an appropriately-disaffected baritone, while drummer Simon Parker keeps everything together nicely. By the end of their set they’ve made more than a few converts to their cause.

Photo: Aaron Sammut

Klaxons emerge and – before saying a word to the crowd – rip into their cover of Kicks Like A Mule’s song The Bouncer. Without a moment’s pause, the ubiquitous siren intro to Atlantis To Interzone blares out and galvanises the crowd into a dancing frenzy. While the band doesn’t quite make sense on paper – a band inspired by krautrock and science fiction novels making edgy dance pop and creating a clothing style of their own – in the sheer energy of their live show you forget these contradictions and find yourself dancing with a stupid grin on your face. The band works their way through most of the material from Myths Of The Near Future with barely a break, getting a huge reaction from Golden Skans. After ploughing through a few more of their songs, with Steffan Halperin’s drumming providing a solid backbone for Jamie Reynolds’s gruff voice, and Simon Taylor-Davis and James Righton throwing their falsettos into the mix, the band close with their cover of It’s Not Over Yet and come back to run through Four Horsemen Of 2012 as their encore. As a set, it’s short, sharp, and blistering fun – well worth having to wait for.

CHAD PARKHILL

^{WANT TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE KLAXONS/DAMN ARMS SHOW}

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