20 April 2010
Switching between keyboards, guitar and percussion Dan Snaith led his band through a mix of old and new material, showing in fine style how to deliver his genre-avoiding output in the live setting. The set was well judged, peaking in intensity at points throughout, especially when the percussion was double-teamed, which also helped to finish the encore with a bang. Refreshing to see that live dance music doesn't have to be laptop or turntable based.
On a side-note, the band won 2-1 in the game of 'spot the false ending' - the crowd remained still when Memory Day paused for breath, but on two other occasions the song picked up again when applause had started; a room full of premature appreciators? It was a little bit like a Haberdasher's Aske's 5-year reunion in there....
It is usually unsatisfying to see solo knob-twiddlers play live, and unfortunately Gold Panda's donning of a panda hat during his earlier support set didn't quite add enough interest to make it a worthwhile spectacle. I do enjoy what I know of his music, but this set was maybe a bit ill-judged for the event, perhaps better suited to a club than a gig, and didn't really engage. And, slightly strangely, only about 40 people stayed on after Caribou to hear an admittedly firework-free wind-down set from Mr Tet, who settled on African flavours after some housey tunes to see us through.
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