NEWS
EVENTS
Indie Event Review: Django Django, Miles Kane, Palma Violets and Peace at the NME Awards, 02 Brixton Academy
Monday 25th February 2013 | Charles
A surprisingly by-the-numbers night for some of Britain least alternative alternatives
Throughout the month of February London has played host to the NME Awards showcasing a bunch of new and not-so-new artists that the New Music Express have deemed both popular and good enough. The peak of this is the around of the country main show which culminates at the 02 Academy Brixton.
The first band (of four) for the night in Birmingham four piece Peace, who play to the crowd with a range of relative hits and some tracks from their upcoming debut, nothing experimental like ‘1998’ here. Having seen them before in a smaller venue (highly recommended) they seem tired and their new songs lack a punch, although the Toyish ‘Higher than the Sun’ shows of their range of styles will likely continue to surprise.
NMEs very own hype babies (who’ve called the saviours of guitar music like at least one band every year) Palma Violets are next showcasing a bunch of songs from their just released LP 180. Known for their ‘wild’ onstage antics this boils down some onstage energy while co-frontman and Bassist Chilli Jessen keeps howling, neither can prevent the music seeming stale after just the first few songs. Probably a lot better up close and heavily drunk.
The last support act comes in the form of Miles Kane, lord of rehashing the mod image while parading a bunch of songs that fall into the category mod-pop. While some of these tracks have got the obligatory catchy chorus that sticks in your head to long, most of his lacks memorability and energy which makes it kind of hard to write about. Sadly a portion of the audience seems to migrate to the exit a soon as he’s done, the portion that look like they’ve just come out of a 40 year old version of Quadrophenia that is.
Thank Dylan for Django Django then who single handily make the night totally worth it. Already sporting one of 2012s greatest albums and an all-a-round Britain make up the band is able to create what all bands should aspire to in the live space. They play the majority of their self-titled record but instead of seeming light and dreamy like the album the use of lighting and a more dance centric rhythm makes it a dark but perhaps even better sound. They never let up in the pace and except for some a strange set list structure they’re near perfect. There’s no distracting showmanship like the previous two artists and they make no attempt to seem laidback like Peace, it’s just great to see band really enjoy and put effort into what they’re playing. Definitely catch them when you can, although with the increasing prices to catchy the three supports I find that a harder recommendation (except if you can catch Peace in their 4 day residency at Birthdays at the end of April because that’s the perfect space to see them).
Charles Pegg
