Wednesday 19th November 2008 @ Academy, Bristol
With Support From: Asobi Seksu

On a rather cold Tuesday evening, what better way to warm up than a night of rousing beats and electonica? Bring on Ladytron! The Academy slowly fills up with punters and an abundance of smoke as we are treated to the support act known as Asobi Seksu.

Asobi Seksu are a trance and pop band from New York. Their waif like vocalist sings in both English and Japanese and with a very sweet vocal style that is on occasion a little syrupy for the style of music it accompanies. Their mix of beats and euro-pop has a heavy edge to it which leads very well into the headline act.

Then it was time for Ladytron. The two female singers slink onto the stage in incredibly stylish black outfits, befitting their trademark ice maiden demeanour. They have a certain way of being able to control everyone’s attention even perched behind their keyboards. Their Kraftwork style of performance gives a lot more urgency and mystery to the songs when they play live and they seem to look awkward yet confident at the same time.

The venue is pretty packed and most folks were dancing and singing along to most songs. The tracks from the third album, Witching Hour, seem to be the most popular to date. They skilfully sprinkled tracks from the new album, Velocifero, into the set which sounds amazing to hear live and certainly made me want to buy it. They pulled out all the crowd favourites such as Play Girl and Seventeen and closed the set with an elevating performance of the anthemic Destroy Everything You Touch.

Ladytron are a real treat to see live for any fan of dance, electronica and even industrial gothic music. The only thing that really let the evening down, surprisingly, was the terrible sound and mixing quality at the Academy. The vocals, although effects laden, sounded way too distant and the bass was overpowering and just made everything vibrate. Not something I would usually add to a review but it was so apparent at the gig that even I was taken back by it. This didn’t spoil the gig but just didn’t really show off the fabulously dark and powerful electonica we were being treated to.

www.ladytron.com

Stu Freeman