Preferring to let the music and Helen Marnie’s sublime vocals take point, Ladytron have been criticised for their lack of audience engagement. However, as the show progresses following dramatic opener ‘Runaway’, it becomes clear Marnie’s stunning voice compensates for any lack of interaction. Rawer than on record, every note is pitch-perfect, filling the venue to tingle-inducing effect. Sharing frontwoman duties, Mira Aroyo more than acquits herself but still comes off second best to her sublimely talented bandmate.
Ladytron can be repetitive but their best songs are irresistible. Tonight’s stand-outs include the creepily gorgeous ‘Seventeen’ and a spectral ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’. From their forthcoming fifth album Gravity The Seducer, meanwhile, the almost Phil Spector-esque ‘White Elephant’ suggests the Liverpool-based quartet may have some surprises in store (we’ll have to wait until the record’s release in September to find out).
Some have said that Ladytron live are not as good as Ladytron on record. The truth is more complicated – what they lack in sweaty charisma, they more than make up for with the stunning force of their music, and Marnie’s gorgeous vocals.