Abi Silvester, editor of Hippyshopper and Crafty Crafty, writes:

I went to see the Klaxons last night at Brixton Academy. Really good gig, and it was not (completely) full of youngsters as everyone assumed it would be. Apparently, since their Mercury win, the Klaxons are seen as an acceptable band for people in their thirties to listen to, and I guess this is a good thing.

A lot of otherwise musically aware people take an instant dislike to the Klaxons (often not having heard their music) and I think this is because they are victims of their own success. They are seen as 'trendy' and people tend to dwell on the 'nu-rave' label they may have invented, but now clearly regret.

This much was apparent at the gig, when we discovered that, at the band's request, the venue had banned glow-sticks.

Their wish was certainly taken seriously, with bag searches focusing not on drugs, weapons or whatever else it is they scrabble around in your bag looking for -- but humble glow-sticks! I think this was quite a smart move. The music is strong enough to stand for itself, but unfortunately, image tends to overshadow everything these days.

After an appropriately bleepy but largely uninspiring set by Simian Mobile Disco, the band arrived (a bit later than was probably ideal but to welcoming applause) -- wearing all black. This provided some relief from the abundant amount of wet-look lycra and neon jumpsuits on display from the devoted crowd. Not the most forgiving look when you're bouncing around in a sweaty venue.

All the tracks on Myths of the Near Future were played, starting a little hesitantly, then really taking off with "Golden Skans", which the crowd went wild for. Other hits followed, and the quality improved steadily as the show progressed. The Klaxons don't have a massive back catalogue, but in my opinion the album is almost flawless, meaning there was no fluff or filler. The one encore, "12 Horsemen of 2012" was enough to send the crowd off happy. This made a pleasant change from some of the bloated gigs I've been to recently from less fresh-faced bands.

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