Klaxons fans glow at energetic Lawrence show

The British band played a 'mad' show in Lawrence, Kan.

By Kelsey Whipple

Published Oct. 9, 2007

It's 6:30 p.m. in Lawrence, Kan., and although Klaxons won't take the stage until well after 10:30 p.m., fans in the DayGlo line outside the Bottleneck are cracking open glow sticks in preparation for the rave revivalists.

Near the back, a teen takes off his glasses, so they won't break during the show. It's a smart move, but the audience will soon find out that where Klaxons are concerned, anything goes.

The crowd is already turbulent by the time bedraggled vocalist Jamie Reynolds steps on the stage, followed by his bandmates, three other 20-somethings in skinny jeans with hair over their

eyes.

Klaxons are a rowdy bunch of Brits, and their fans came prepared for the sweaty warehouse-style concert that has become a Klaxons staple.

As Reynolds and vocalist James Righton howled the first lines of the band's opener, a cover of Kicks Like a Mule's "The Bouncer," even more glow sticks appeared as a sign of the band's debt to old rave.

In the past year, much has been said about the recent Mercury Prize winners and their rehashing of the '90s craze, and those in the Bottleneck now believe all of it.

All the telltale signs of the "new-rave" microfad Klaxons all but created were there: inescapable rhythm, mesmerizing vocals and an almost

supersonic tempo.

Righton had it right when, before launching into Klaxons' mega-hit "Golden Skans," he said, "It's going to be a sweaty one tonight."

The addictive song went down strongly with the entranced crowd, as Righton, Reynolds and guitarist Simon Taylor-Davis combined to croon the chorus.

But the variety of the less popular songs, such as "Isle of Her," "Totem on the Timeline" and "As Above, So Below," was what really sent the band, and the crowd, into a tizzy. Although Klaxons might seem like a synthesizer band on their debut, keyboards take a backseat to guitars when they play live.

Think less electro, more punk. There were no special effects at the show, and none were needed.

You can forget the many varieties of Klaxons sound — art rock, sci fi, punk funk, magic realist — all you need to know is that live, Klaxons are dynamic, and they are loud. But it seems they are not always this good.

"We've played like a piece of shit this whole tour," Taylor-Davis said of their first tour in North America. "This is the first time we've redeemed

ourselves."

If there was a symbol to the night, it was undeniably the glow stick, and if there was a theme, it was hysteria. During "Isle of Her," Reynolds, who admitted the leg he broke during a stage dive a few months ago is still at only 90 percent, was knocked to the ground by a drunken fan.

When the majority of the songs had been ticked off the set list, the audience took to the stage to dance, and I was not the only front-rower hoofing it with a Klaxon.

After the show, Reynolds, chipper as usual, was all

headshakes.

"The whole place is mad," he said "Lawrence, Kan. is mad."

But he said it with a smile, because, after all, so are Klaxons.