LIVE REVIEW: NME TOUR 2012

Great Hall, Cardiff University Students’ Union

Sun 19 Feb

★★★☆☆

words ALEX TURNER photos NME PHOTOGRAPHER

If nothing else, the annual NME tour brings together a good selection of punters to have a nosey at. Miniscule just-teens radiate amped-up giddiness while 30 and 40-somethings (some of them clearly parental chaperones) look on with wistful envy. A cross-section of medium-youthful Cardiff, ranging from hipsters to rugby boys, fleshes out a crowd unlikely to be seen in the same room too often.

The same could be said for the performers. It’s become customary for the NME tour to feature a balance of up-and-coming and established, in a sometimes uneasy spread of styles that means most attendees should find a highlight or two, but few will spend the whole evening engrossed.

This year Azealia Banks is the nominal wildcard, though the fact that the New York MC is fit, foulmouthed and female makes her a classic pin-up for the NME’s core demographic. Her brief, energetic set seems more immediately suitabled to small clubs, and is at times rather obvious, but the booming electro-tinged beats instantly blaze the moshpit’s touchpaper.

Obligatory hot guitar group Tribes have been unlucky in the hype foisted upon them. Comparisons with Aladdin Sane and Surfer Rosa – ones many bands would wince at living up to – seem founded on little more than a few squalls of guitar here and a Bowie-esque lilt to a chorus there, and skirt the band’s fundamental Brit indie-blokeishness. To their credit, Tribes have some memorable tunes, but as Johnny Lloyd sings, “we were children in the mid-90s”, it’s a reminder of how seldom this brand of rock has progressed since then.

Metronomy, by contrast, have evolved at pace in the past couple of years by adding a generous dose of old-fashioned songwriting to their engrossing blend of guitars and electronics. Propelled by Gbenga Adelekan’s twisting basslines, the many highlights of last year’s The English Riviera inject a welcome shot of variety – not to mention danceability – into proceedings.

Two Door Cinema Club also keep the limbs moving. They get a headliners-worthy response as they tear through the plaintive, lightly electro-fied indie pop of their Tourist History album, with a couple of new songs equally well received. There’s no denying their exuberance but, as with much of tonight’s fare, TDCC suffer from an essentially one-paced quality that makes them amiable rather than awe-inspiring company – and an appropriate end to a six-out-of-10 kind of evening.