Wednesday 10th February 2010 @ Thekla, Bristol
With Support From: The Politics

Two years on from their first and only album, & Then Boom, and their one real hit, In This City, I found myself on our much loved mother ship, Thekla, watching Iglu & Hartley with a hundred or so screaming adolescents, merely a molehill of the sell-out crowds they were pulling at the peak of their fame. To make up the numbers though, the choice of a 14+ show tonight brought what must have been a few gig first-timers, some accompanied by their parents (you know who you were).

Mr.Iglu and Mr.Hartly were supported by The Politics whose pop-rock sing-along wannabe anthems were only dampened by weak crowd support and the band’s distain towards this statistic. The highlight of the set came with the track Yeah Yeah Yeah, which was outlined by a mix of full choruses, catchy raps and funky dancing.

Enter Iglu & Hartly whose enthusiasm to “rock the boat” was matched by their amount of hair and rapstar hand-gestures. Their set brought about high energy, crowd pleasing tracks like Violent And Young and Dayglo, but after every track came inevitable under breath mumblings and mutterings of “…a cheap man’s MGMT”. Mid-show, with new tracks seeming to offer more of the same, same, same, the set hit mediocrity which was probably why vocalist, Jarvis Anderson, chose then to remove his shirt, bringing about the second biggest raucous of the night; only bested by the first few notes of In This City.

The show ended with every girl being invited onstage during the encore, which due to the size of audience, was an easy task. Tonight was Iglu & Hartly’s third visit to Thekla; it will probably be their last.

www.myspace.com/igluandhartly

Elliott Brooks