Triumph for Indie line-up

Shockwaves NME Awards Tour

O2 Academy Birmingham

Concert review by Chris Davies

Having featured names such as Arctic Monkeys and The Killers in previous line-ups, these annual tours from the well known alternative music magazine are widely viewed as a showcase of some of the best indie talent worldwide.

And Saturday's gig was no exception, with a roster of artists that, on paper, looked a particularly strong selection, taking in a wide variety of genres.

Opening act The Vaccines got the capacity crowd moving with their distortion-drenched blend of The Jesus And Mary Chain and surf rock, meets Ramones-esque harmonies and a healthy dose of Phil Spector. Current single Post Break-Up Sex understandably prompted the biggest reaction as the London-based four-piece turned the temperature up a notch in an already sweltering o2 Academy.

In complete contrast, Manchester-based four-piece Everything Everything moved the night into more danceable territory with their synth-based art rock, wowing the crowd with a set of shifting time signatures and indecipherable lyrics, including singles Photoshop Handsome and MY KZ UR BF.

This set the scene for a complete change in musical direction, as bass sub-frequencies which threatened to shake this relatively new venue to its foundations announced the arrival of dubstep maestros Magnetic Man. With the heat now at boiling point, the crowd became a melting mass of heads bobbing in time to the London trio's earth shattering syncopated rhythms and squelching basslines. All their tracks already sound like classics, but highpoints included sci-fi epic, The Bug, I Need Air and Perfect Stranger.

And so, by the time headliners Crystal Castles unleashed their unique brand of electro punk, it was hard to see how the night could have been bettered. But, bettered it certainly was, as lead singer Alice Glass took the crowd on a dark, fractured musical journey, filled with computer bleeps and electronically-mangled vocals.

Despite performing on crutches due to a broken ankle, this elfin figure cast a spell over the crowd, who went wild for the Canadian duo's set, particularly Crimewave, Celestica and Not In Love.