Saturday, October 11, 2008

Ladytron + Familjen - Metro Theatre 29/09/08


It has taken me a long time to get around to writing this review and as such some of the finer details will be a little foggy; this says nothing about the quality of the performance however.

Upon seeing the full house at the Metro I realised that I have been a little late in discovering the inventive electro pop/rock sounds of the headliners, having only been familiar with their excellent latest album 'Velocifero'. Of course I have since rectified this situation by going back to their older material as well. Unfortunately "inventive" is not an adjective I can use to describe Familjen's dance-pop sound. Their music is not bad per se, it just left me a little flat. In their defence the two members onstage certainly gave a full account of themselves and the faithful down the front were dancing away and having a good time.

I was expecting something special from Ladytron and from the moment they walked onstage I was not disappointed. Three of my favourites ("Black Cat", "Ghosts" and "Runaway") were aired early - each better than the last as the band became fully wrapped up in their performance. What followed was a broad range of tracks from the band's entire output, with possibly their best known number "Seventeen" left until late, receiving a rapturous response when it finally came.

The two female vocalists (each with keyboards in front of them) were the obvious focal points, however I must make mention of the drummer's superb performance which held my attention for large portions of the set. With a full sound and lighting which consisted of a lot of darker hues (reds and purples featured) Ladytron delivered a mesmerising performance which just seemed to fly by (much like this review!), leaving me eager for their return.

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