Friday 21 November 2008

Support:
Asobi Seksu

Ladytron are currently playing their biggest European tour yet in support of their latest album Velocifero. They stopped off in London to play at the Shepherds Bush Empire, but I think the crowd left with mixed opinions.

The support act was Asobi Seksu, an unknown band for me so I was unsure what to expect. I was met with a wall of distorted sound accompanied by ethereal female vocals, which was very enjoyable although it became a bit samey in the end. The finale was very impressive though, with the two guitarists jamming out and the vocalist taking a turn behind the drums to produce their biggest crowd reaction of the night.

Ladytron took to the stage at 9 with their usual detached presence and matching black outfits, and the intro music segued into ‘Black Cat’. Things started to go a bit wrong however as the bass rumbled loudly through the venue when hitting the lower notes, rendering a lot of the vocals and melodies inaudible. This problem continued for a fair amount of the songs and meant that all but the die-hard fans were left trying to decipher which song was playing. With a heavily Velocifero and Witching Hour laden setlist the crowd definitely picked up for certain tracks, such as ‘High Rise’ and ‘Runaway’, but the reaction to finale ‘Destroy Everything You Touch’ was a lot poorer than it should have been.
I left feeling fairly satisfied, but disappointed in the knowledge that the gig could have been even better if it wasn’t for the sound problems.