The Rapture

The Rapture’s DFA produced debut ‘Echoes’ was the thinking-man’s disco dream. A punk-funk masterpiece that twinned infection dance-punk with brooding heartache, it was and still is the best concept album of unrequited love ever committed to record (Grand praise, but I’ll stand by it ‘till the end). After playing its course and the dust settled, they buggered off for a few years, fell out with DFA and made friends with Paul Epworth (Maximo Park, Bloc Party, Futureheads and just about any decent indie single of recent years) and DangerMouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz) who helped produce their equally great second album ‘Pieces Of The People We Love’. Now, after all the kerfuffle, here they are stood on stage at the Islington Academy, in London for the first time for... oooohhh... a while, and this reviewer is effing excited about it.

Shame about the rest of the crowd. Tonight’s show is for Xfm and the audience is made up of competition winners and a plethora of other blaggers, and as it is with these things, a large percentage of the crowd just aren’t up for it. Sheesh, you got in for free, you could at least make some effort!!

Despite this rather major factor of crowd apathy, the band that appear on stage are one that have progressed from the insular mystery of their last incarnation. They’re still awkward and geekish to the max, but with the new songs as good as they are, such as the head-splittingly exciting ‘Whoo! Yeah Uhhuh... Alright!’ they’re a fiercer, more confident force that only further proves their unabated excellence (and you can’t ask for more acclaim that that).

Dipping deep into their past, ‘Out Of The Races & Onto The Tracks’ from their 2001 EP grooves as confidently as ace current single ‘Get Myself Into It’ and Echoes’ album track slayer ‘Killing’.

The epitomising ‘House Of Jealous Lovers’ is played out confidently mid-set, displaying the bruising assurance the band possess, they even end with new track ‘The Sound’.

The crowd demand an encore, so they dutifully return for a quick run through of chant-friendly jazz-meander ‘Heaven’, before the show is abruptly ended, a thrill from start to finish and they didn’t even play ‘Love Is All’.

And then The Rapture returned. Thank the Lord.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.