Support: Nova Robotics
These guys are going to be massive. You know when you can just tell? I hate to say wanky things like "yah, huge for twenty-ten, I was there at the beginning of course..." but when Chew Lips painted the town all sparkly-purple on Wednesday, bringing their catchy electro to a busy Louisiana, the excitement in the air was of the palpable sort that only comes when seeing a band on the cusp of greatness.
Starting things off was one man and his trusty laptop, Bristol's own Nova Robotics, who pushed out some choppy electro bass and big beats, and topped them with live lonely guitar chords, perfecting the shy-bedroom-mixer-type, whilst acknowledging other genre-benders like Bloc Party/Explosions In The Sky/Errors.
Keeping his hoodie firmly around his ears, Mr Robotics kept the crowd captivated with his instrumental, expressive combinations of heavy dancey synths and instinctive, yet delicate melodies over the top.
It's music to ponder something to, alone on a train going through a city early in the early morning, or walking back from work in heavy rain. (You know, that sort of built-up pace but with a melancholy edge.)
Unfortunately, his laptop died on him (we've all been there) in the middle of the set, but things quickly got back on track after a technological shuffle and a few apologies.
We spoke to him later when buying an EP (a bargainous £3) and he was such a lovely guy. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future performances.
Kitsune's Chew Lips then took to the mircokorg-laden stage in a strange whirl of tweed and sequins, the whole room seemed to fill with energy. Comparisons with Yeah Yeah Yeahs and La Roux immediately sprang to mind, but there was something very likeable and unique about frontwoman Tigs.
All of a sudden there are some very cool girls on the music scene, doing their own thing and trying to out-crazy-outfit each other, and don't get me wrong -that's better for music than the uniform bikini dance routines of a couple of years ago... but it's all happened so quickly that it can sometimes be a little like 'Which one are you again?'
Tigs and Chew Lips, however, will have no such problem - she's gorgeous and stylish - but perhaps because fame is still relatively new, she's much easier to relate to than the usual popstar.
With a glittery arrow drawn on her face and buckets of charisma, she roared through a wicked set with bandmates James and Will at the electro-pop helm, telling us we were a wicked crowd when fans sang back to her during singles Solo and Salt Air.
The band later changed their facebook status to "Bristol was the best night of the tour, nice one peeps." Which was quite nice.
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