Klaxons sound off on their return to Hackney
Published
Former giants of festival main-stages returned to their “spiritual home”, performing a boisterous show in Hackney’s Oslo.
The gig, comprised of material from their (soon to be) three studio albums, could have easily been taking place seven years ago. Klaxons look no older than they did when collecting the Mercury Award in 2007, and their enthusiasm towards being on stage was reminiscent of any young band. Older tracks were received with an excitement not solely attributable to nostalgia, especially set openers and closers ‘Atlantis to interzone’ and Grace-cover ‘It’s not over’. Newer material, such as the bass-laden ‘Children of the sun’ and current single ‘There is no other time’, sounded great when performed in the tiny club, and certainly follow the same musical approach to what’s previously delivered the group success. This isn’t to stay that the Klaxons sound seems stale however, simply that they’re continuing to push their own musical formula along. One part rock, two parts electro, a pinch of gaiety. Simon Taylor-Davis’ screeching guitar and the catchy keys from James Righton continue to entwine over the pounding bass from frontman Jamie Reynolds, just like they did on the outstanding
Myths of the Near Future all those years ago. It’s Depeche Mode for the
Keenan and Kel generation, and my teenage self would have been sick with envy knowing I was able to catch them in a compact 250 capacity venue.
It’s testament to the band that Keira Knightley was in attendance and yet all audience attention was on the stage, watching three sweaty men (re)live what appears to be a never ending youth. The gig did borderline on cheesy, but given they were wearing metallic suits “made by a nice Turkish bloke”, were they really aiming for anything else? 9/10 http://www.klaxons.net/ https://www.facebook.com/klaxons
