Islands’ last gig in London was not an overwhelming success. Nick Thornburn wasn’t in the best of moods, their insistence on playing only new songs from an unreleased (and more notably, unleaked) album didn’t lend to an electric atmosphere and not even the bouncy energy of their violinists could save them. But all is forgiven, for this was what their Hoxton show should have been. The difference in Nick’s demeanour was startling; cheerful, chatty and not adverse to throwing himself into the audience (in contrast to the standoffish attitude he showed last time). Rather than throwing loads of tunes nobody knew, the band delivered a perfectly balanced mix of material (although they perhaps despatched Swans too early in the set) and only muggy sound let the side down, neutering their more intricate songs under a fug of bass. But who cares, ‘cos they finished with Rough Gem and it made me really, really happy. YAY!(Photo: Namestage (Flickr))
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