Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Brixton Academy

I haven't written many gig reviews recently, which is a shame because we've been to some great gigs recently (Franz Ferdinand at Brixton possibly being the best).

However, this YYYs gig won't go down as one of the better gigs, not least because I am without my normal gig buddy, who is at home with a cold.

The problems are many and varied. I could mention the high number of teenage girls in the audience who surge forward into the mosh pit when the band come on, but then jsut stand there looking at each other wondering what to do next. It takes one bright spark to work out that they should maybe , 'like, move around a bit, you know, dance' and so slowley, the most self conscious crowd I've ever seen start to enjoy themselves.

But the real problem with this gig is the band. Taking 2 minute slices of guitar pop and trying to spread them to five or six minutes by dicking around with intros (Karen, screaming into a lighting rig at the side of the stage; guitar fiddling or that most heanous of crimes - drum solos) does not make an interestin gig. I have to stiffle a couple of yawns at one point.

The new songs are pretty good, but I want to hear more. I'd rather the band play 30 minutes of old stuff (and I mean 10+ songs rather than 4 or five streched) and then another half an hour of new stuff.

So a marked difference from the gig we saw them play erlier in the year. Lets hope this was a blip and the YYYs will be back on form again soon. Because they surely won't last very long playing gigs like this.
- posted by Nigella @ 9:50 PM