Coal Exchange, Cardiff Bay
Sat 12 May
words: STEVE GIBBS photos SIMON AYRE
★★★☆☆
On the night they are announced as support to Coldplay on a forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand, The Temper Trap prove their impeccable credentials for such a role.
Already inhabiting their own private Wembley, even in the earthy surrounds of the Coal Exchange, this performance continues their quest to provide stadium rock grandeur on a budget.
A succession of anthemic choruses and widescreen, slow-burning riffs certainly lack nothing in ambition, and populating half of your set with material from an unreleased second album betrays massive confidence. Ultimately, though, something so big is revealed as frustratingly hollow. For all the intricate detail and ethereal atmospherics, the overall effect remains decidedly underwhelming and prone to cliché. Perhaps better suited to a hazy afternoon in a festival field, opening couplet London’s Burning and Need Your Love, both from the eponymous new album, set an impressive standard that they largely fail to build on.
Old material is joined lustily by an ecstatic crowd but too often the electro-rock formula sounds over-wrought. A wall of strobes pulse and burn to emphasise the gravity of the songs, framing Dougy Mandagi centre-stage, eyes closed and fists clenched with sincerity. His glacial falsetto is at the heart of this set, backed by layered harmonies, shimmering guitar and pounding drums. Their U2 influence shines through, and several riffs, particularly in Love Lost and Miracle, are perhaps a little too familiar.
Rabbit Hole then ends abruptly, on Mandagi’s final evocation of its title, dropping to nothing like the words mean everything. Whether the strident Down River or delicate Soldier On, each song rises majestically to a huge chorus bathed in a wash of heavenly light. It is, however, a triumph of style over substance. Even the closing Sweet Disposition, in this context, feels like the soft drink commercial it eventually became rather than the minor indie classic it could and perhaps should be.
They will, undoubtedly, grace a stadium near you very soon, but remain trapped halfway between the gutter and the stars.
