Digitalism, Brighton Concorde 2, 14/11/2007

Firstly, a word about the venue. I’ve never been here before, heck, I’d never even been to a gig in Brighton (I know, I know, what you must be thinking of me now), but I would have to say it’s pretty awesome. Its right on the seafront. Literally walk a hundred yards in the wrong direction and not just your feet will be wet close to the seafront. And plus it seems that the only way to get to it is to walk across the seafront for a couple of hundred yards. And seems like just the right size for a band like Digitalism.

But of course, first up, at least after the obvious, but still pleasant, playing of the legendary Daft Punk album Discovery, were Australian band Midnight Juggernauts, taking to the stage under a veil of smoke and the beating of the drums. Unfortunately plagued by the seemingly almost inevitable support band pandemic, of having their mics (or even perhaps, their voices) turned down so that everything they say becomes as incoherent, or even less so, than they guy next to you trying to tell you the name of the band.

Incidentally, however, their live stuff worked fairly well, reminescent perhaps of a more upbeat Maps, even with the overall aura of melancholy. Except that for these guys it wasn't just the songs just that they don't need to smile or express emotion because they are that fucking cool. Ironically, their most memorable songs were those were the keyboardist and bassist swapped round. I would love to give you their song names, but the combination of the mic problems and that just the plain coolness of these guys means that I didn’t hear any names even if they did have some.

So after another bout of One More Time to Too Long, and the setting up of the fairly cool equipment (pictured at another gig above*) Digitalism start the show. At first, songs are easily recognisable as separate entities, with them kicking straight into my personal favourite "Anything New" right up until their biggest hit, "Pogo", placed beautifully mid-set, and everything else afterwards blurs into one, even Digitalism in Cairo is almost lost in the noise but for an egyptian hierpglyphics light show. But why should that matter?

Fair enough that their album (Idealism, which is very good) could be criticised for being quite derivative of their obvious inspiration in Daft Punk, live they completely come into their own. From drum machines to samplers, the equipment that litters what appears to be two tables nicked from an old school cafeteria, is all used to massive effect on every song. Everything comes together and theres barely a pause for breath. Singing into a retro fifty's microphone, over rising drums and all sorts of beeps and noises. Simply whacking electronic drums and samplers, they simply look like they're having amazing fun, and that feeling is soon shared by the crowd.

It's one thing to make an album that is pretty much instantly listenable to turning into what can only be described as a four course feast of noise ten times greater than what was recorded.

*Photos very uncunningly stolen from here.