You get the feeling that one-time nu-rave exponents Klaxons may have missed the boat somewhat with their second album, Surfing The Void. Despite being an excellent collection of catchy psych-rock tunes, the record’s tortured creation (it arrived over three-and-a-half years after their debut) did them no favours and there was a feeling of anti-climax when it finally surfaced late this summer.
Which is a real shame, because as this show proved, Klaxons remain a genuinely exciting band with a formidable repertoire of songs. Having sustained an injury recently, singer Jamie Reynolds arrives on onstage on crutches (which, disappointingly, aren’t covered in glo-sticks) and spends the whole gig perched atop a stool. It scarcely matters as he and his bandmates energetically tear their way through such psych-pop gems as ‘Golden Skans’, ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’, ‘Echoes’ and ‘Two Receivers’.
In the week that the IMF arrived in town, there is something oddly suitable about the apocalyptic themes that underpin Klaxons’ output, which are as prominent on Surfing The Void as Myths Of The Near Future. The crowd receive the material from Surfing... as enthusiastically as the hits, and I find myself thinking much the same as I thought when I saw The Rapture in this venue a few years back: I can’t understand why this band aren’t more popular.
Indeed following a magnificent encore, it’s hard not to lament the galling lack of justice in the world, when you consider that the insipid Temper Trap recently sold out this venue, while the brilliant Klaxons plug a second album that crashed and burned.
Oh well – as the band themselves acknowledge – it’s not over yet.