Live

OK Go, The Matches

Kerry Meech 19/09/2006

Long gone are the days when a quick phone call to Pan's People and an appearance on Top Of the Pops (R.I.P) would suffice as a pop video, nowadays artists are expected to spend buckets of cash in a vain attempt to manufacture their 'original' images. In short, the music video now has the ability to make and break careers and churn out the odd iconic image along the way. Ok Go are one band who have embraced the medium of film so enthusiastically that news of a new music video from the flamboyant foursome is always met with much anticipation from the Indie music press. Needless to say with their new single 'Here it Goes Again' they have delivered a pristinely choreographed, humorous video which sees them take to the treadmill to pull some spectacular synchronised shapes.

Having been around for a few years, Ok Go grace the stage with all the stature of a band who know how to work a crowd and themselves in the process. Having previously witnessed the car wreck which was The Matches' set, it was refreshing to see a band who are comfortable with both their sound and their appearance. Whereas The Matches, who appear to have Orson as their image consultants, just didn't seem cohesive and consistent as a band; they were trying to condense every sub-genre of music from art-rock to emo into their music but sounding at best like the very worst of nu-metal…and don't even get me started on the lead singers shocking hair (See their new video for 'Papercut Skin')

Ok Go, by contrast, mixed cheeky banter - “We love how the Welsh speak” - with practical jokes; the Mick Jagger-esque front man secretly crept into the crowd mid-song only to soak the unsuspecting punters at the heart of the mosh pit; none the less the crowd warmed instantly to them. Tracks played from their most recent album, 2005's 'Oh No', included 'Here it Goes Again' and 'Invincible' and were unapologetically belted out by the immaculately debonair quartet.

Viewers of T4's 'Popworld' may have witnessed the bands 'interview' a couple of weeks ago whereby the band danced to their video with the shows presenters, and tonight the bemused audience were treated to yet another display of the bands choreographed finesse, which ended spectacularly with a human pyramid. The cynic in you may wish to criticise the bands use of funky dancing as dangerously gimmicky, but as We Are Scientists have proved over the past year, humour works, so turn that frown upside down!