Amidst a thick wall of relentless bass and wailing synths, Alice Glass shrieks and screams, working the O2’s super-charged crowd into a pulsing sea of energy; the move to larger venues, it seems, has not phased Canada’s most fearless musical export.
Few bands reach the level of energy elicited by Crystal Castles, whose fondness for extreme volume and futuristic shudders of techno-synths create a brutally electric atmosphere. Their desire, it would appear, is to feed the primal instincts of their crowd, using overpowering noise to provoke a caveman-finds-arpeggiator-and- takes-shit-tons-of-drugs response. By the first chorus of ‘Plague’, this has been comprehensively achieved, with members of the youthful audience throwing themselves manically at one another, moving as one in a battle against an unknown silent enemy.
Somewhere amidst the violent soundscapes, however, much of the distinction between songs is lost, with only the most memorable lines of each new song indicating any change. That said, the moody-euphoria of ‘Baptism’ stands out as the set’s most exciting chapter with its heavy club beats and frenzied chanting, whilst ‘Not in Love’ provides the only real sing-along of the performance, perhaps indicating that for all the work that goes into earning radio play or an NME front cover, getting a track on FIFA is the real path to genuine publicity.
The sound quality isn’t the best, but Crystal Castles aren’t worried about acoustics; if the venue can withstand the bass they throw at it then that’s good enough for them. If it can’t, well, that’s even better.
7/10
Words: Andrew Kemp