December 1, 2010
Arriving into the stagnant wasteland of 2007 armed with colourful clothes, glowsticks and floppy haircuts, Klaxons seemed like a genuine breath of fresh air. Their craftily cerebral, achingly melodic brand of punky, rave flavoured indie pop (or "Nu-Rave", as the NME wincingly labelled it) made them stand out from the rest of the miserabilists and Doherty clones of the indie scene, and their debut album, Myths Of The Near Future, will surely go down in history as the only album named after a JG Ballard novel to ever sell a quarter of a million copies. With critical and commercial success behind them, it looked as though this three-piece might conquer the world with their day-glo, acid-fried optimism.
History tells us, however, that things rarely run this smoothly. The record company moaned that the demos for the second album were "too psychedelic". This paved the way for a three year recording hiatus which forced the band into a hibernation broken only by the occasional festival appearance and support slot. Happily, 2010 saw the lads back on the airwaves with their comeback single "Echoes", a defiant slice of three minute space age pop which has been widely regarded as one of the best singles of the year, and rightly so. The second album proper, "Surfing The Void" followed shortly after, and did not disappoint. With erstwhile Slipknot producer Ross Robinson hemming the controls, the album had a noticeably beefier, more full on sound to it than that of their debut, and was well-received by both press and punters. The question on everyone's lips tonight is, of course, will the new material stand on its own two feet live? Oxford, we have lift off ....
From the moment they land on stage, the crowd goes appropriately mental. Crowd surfing, moshing, drink hurling... you name it, it all takes place tonight. Oldies such as "Two Receivers", "Golden Skans" and "Atlantis To Interzone" are greeted with the type of crowd reactions normally reserved for punk or metal gigs, whilst newies such as "Valley Of The Calm Trees" and "The Same Space" meet with equally rapturous receptions. Despite the uproar, there is a distinctly warm, loved-up atmosphere in the O2 tonight, an atmosphere which harks back to the sweaty acid house warehouses and nightclubs of the late eighties and early nineties which the band take aprt of their musical cues from. Best of all, there was hardly a glowstick in sight....
History tells us, however, that things rarely run this smoothly. The record company moaned that the demos for the second album were "too psychedelic". This paved the way for a three year recording hiatus which forced the band into a hibernation broken only by the occasional festival appearance and support slot. Happily, 2010 saw the lads back on the airwaves with their comeback single "Echoes", a defiant slice of three minute space age pop which has been widely regarded as one of the best singles of the year, and rightly so. The second album proper, "Surfing The Void" followed shortly after, and did not disappoint. With erstwhile Slipknot producer Ross Robinson hemming the controls, the album had a noticeably beefier, more full on sound to it than that of their debut, and was well-received by both press and punters. The question on everyone's lips tonight is, of course, will the new material stand on its own two feet live? Oxford, we have lift off ....
From the moment they land on stage, the crowd goes appropriately mental. Crowd surfing, moshing, drink hurling... you name it, it all takes place tonight. Oldies such as "Two Receivers", "Golden Skans" and "Atlantis To Interzone" are greeted with the type of crowd reactions normally reserved for punk or metal gigs, whilst newies such as "Valley Of The Calm Trees" and "The Same Space" meet with equally rapturous receptions. Despite the uproar, there is a distinctly warm, loved-up atmosphere in the O2 tonight, an atmosphere which harks back to the sweaty acid house warehouses and nightclubs of the late eighties and early nineties which the band take aprt of their musical cues from. Best of all, there was hardly a glowstick in sight....