Thankfully, what we get is more The Day The Earth Stood Still than Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Fighting Spiders are first up, dressed in blinding day-glo threads, warpaint and the tightest of tight pants. The ‘80s throwbacks (metaphorically) inject their infectious venom into the unsuspecting audience and ensnare them in their web. With tunes like ‘Leeches’ and ‘Me Me Me’, the crowd is easy-meat for these electro-rock arachnids.
Robotnik take to the stage sporting clean-room suits that one imagines they wear in their mad-scientist laboratory. Their animated set features more running around than the Olympic 5000m, including some inspired super-soaker antics. It’s not all theatrics though, as Robotnik have the musical chops to back it up. ‘I Found Jesus In The Year 2027’ is the stand-out track.
Finally, they roll out the big guns. Robert Julius Oppenheimer was a 20th century physicist, often referred to as “the father of the atomic bomb” for his work on WW2’s Manhattan Project. Belfast’s Oppenheimer are 21st century musicians, who may go down in history as “fathers of the sonic bomb” for their work on generating small-yield aural explosions, localised to venues in which the band appear. ‘This Is Not A Test’ is immediately detonated, followed swiftly by other weapons of mass appeal including ‘My Son, The Astronaut’ and ‘Breakfast In NYC.’ They end their assault with the sublime ‘Saturday Looks Bad To Me”, prompting screams of appreciation from the crowd.
A B-movie premise with an A-list cast.