NME Awards Tour @ O2 Academy, 3 Feb
Many have yet to arrive when The Vaccines (***) take the stage, the poor punctuality particularly pronounced when compared with previous NME tours, when the likes of Florence and the Machine and Franz Ferdinand made the first-on slot seem like a reliable kingmaker. But as they launch into ninety-second rabble-rouser Wreckin’ Bar, the much-hyped Londoners indicate they’ll graduate from the tour a similar success story. If they had the technology, this is probably the kind of band NME would grow Weird Science-style: little bits of Interpol, Glasvegas and The Strokes, swirled up with Britpop and offering instant appeal.
Everything Everything’s (**) allure is more difficult to grasp, though it’s evidently strongly-felt amongst the now-heaving Academy. They’re an awkward creation, born not of a Weird Science power-surge, but perhaps the body-fusing teleporter from The Fly: a mutant blend of Passion Pit and Polysics, more hectic than the former, yet not unhinged enough to contest the latter (matching jumpsuits aside). Yet, curiously, their synths and caterwauling eventually dispel reservations to prove oddly enjoyable.
With an array of electronics to rival Cape Canaveral, Magnetic Man (****) don’t do understated. The ground-shaking rumble that introduces Benga, Skream and Artwork (plus MC Dread) sets out their stall: when the first beat drops, the derisive scorn of a couple of cack-eared indie-faithfuls standing nearby is (thankfully) obliterated. Their album underwhelmed, but the trio nail it tonight, squelching and wobbling and building and releasing to exhaustion. Meanwhile, the folk sheltering in the mezzanine listening to The Kinks sure missed out.
Having broken her ankle a few days earlier, there’s concern that Alice Glass will lack her trademark fervency tonight. By her well-documented standards she’s taking it easy, but still manages to repeatedly hoist herself onto monitors. Yet Crystal Castles (****) are more than an energetic front-woman: Ethan Kahn fills the room with unsubtle yet effective noise, the dark, intense Baptism and glitch-ridden anthem Crimewave standing as unrivalled highlights. If Glass’s enforced moderation constitutes a diminished Castles experience, they’ve confirm they can comfortably absorb the knock.