Live

Klaxons

Kerry Meech 26/08/2006

It's official - Glo-sticks and Day-Glo Lycra are back and with a vengeance! Forget the days of relentless stomping and gurning in a cow-shit covered field, nowadays the immaculately dressed and ultra stylish flock to their nearest indie dance floor for their dose of NME branded 'New Rave'. But don't worry, there are still more neon smiley faces than you can shake a stick at.

If like me you find the NME's weekly fixation on certain bands nauseating then you will have no doubt noticed their apparent discovery of 'New Rave': “The new dance-punk mash-up”. Normally I would snobbishly disregard any such exclamation in a vain attempt to avoid falling into the trap of a trend; however, the allure of neon and tweeting whistles had me trapped and before I knew it I was throwing shapes with the best of them.

The Klaxons seem to have taken the place previously occupied by the Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks in the NME, meaning that while at the moment they are enjoying their 'love in' with the music press, they also have the important task of living up to the expectation put upon them. Luckily enough, for them, they do. Not only was the tent packed with sweaty Reading revelers but the whole surrounding area outside was crammed with people waving glow sticks in time to the pounding bass erupting from inside the tent. Even the band members seemed surprised by the swarming mass which met them, causing guitarist/vocalist Jamie Reynolds to repeatedly thank the crowd for their support.

The band delivered an uncompromising set which dealt blow after blow upon the audience's eardrums, not that anyone seemed to mind. In fact for many of the crowd The Klaxons were to them what Pearl Jam officially were - the headliners. Tracks such as the hits 'Gravity's Rainbow' and '4 Horsemen of 2012' shook the crowd to breaking point, causing many fans to retreat outside for some much needed fresh air, not that they stayed there for long.
Their cover of Grace's euphoric dance floor classic 'Not Over Yet' created a tidal wave of hysteria, whereby glow sticks were promptly thrown into the air along with anything else which was close to hand.

Although the NME's prediction of a New Rave revolution is yet to be seen it is apparent that The Klaxons mean business and have the music to back it up; so dust off those Day-Glo trackies you have hiding in the back of your closet; you'll be needing them.