I didn’t really know what I’d be hearing either, to be honest.

Mr Lavelle pops out, with quite a few chaps, actually. The crowd are rather pleased, there’s claps and whoops. Quite jubilant, really. There’s a drummer, Lavelle at the back behind a table with a man who is the spitting image of Ivan Campo (http://fussballblog.espace.ch/files/images/2005/11/454/mob4700_1130961263.jpg) and at least one guitarist and a bassist. Mr Guitar reminds me of a cross between the long haired McGuire brother from Shameless and Dolf de Datsun, his stage presence also reflects this, if you can imagine it. The bassist was like a character in an episode of GI Joes I had on video as a kid (Asclepius – Greek god of medicine – for those of you interested. Yes, it was an odd episode. Actually, he was a normal character, but they ended up in ancient Greece and the Greeks thought he was Asclepius).

I’ll try and stay more on track.

Hold My Hand is played second, which was released in 2007. The crowd knew this, certainly the ones towards the front who were making themselves sweaty, or – dare I go there – having a ‘jump around’. Lavelle sings in this. You can tell he kinda likes it, but hates a little at the same time. Imagine Ian Brown behind some decks, and that’s kinda how this seems for Mr Lavelle.

It all seems a bit Queens of the Stone Age with excellent lights, or perhaps more fittingly Death in Vegas (Scorpio Rising era). Well. A bit of both.

So the problem for me being, well….I’ve not listened to DiV for a good few years, and I never liked QotSA (No-one knows era. Well, I didn’t like them ever). That said, this is quite listenable, heavier than DiV but not necessarily following ‘traditional’ rock song conventions, so every now and then I was surprised when they didn’t ‘rock out’ and things got softer, or vice-versa.

And the lights, they were really quite something, throughout. Green was the vibe in the first half of the gig, then we got a white patch and reds, I think, to close. Let’s just say that they’d be an ‘Epileptics beware: strobe lighting’ sign writer’s wet dream.

The atmosphere remained great throughout, more members of the crowd getting involved as the gig progressed and the band’s enjoyment increasing with it, which was nice.

Ivan Campo decides to show off his electronic etch-a-sketch, which makes me very jealous. Pulsating squares and whatnot everywhere. Well. On his little pad. I’m sure it’s a lot of fun though, certainly looked it, and he was pleased as punch.

It’s about here that well, I started to realise the problems I had with it all. It was alright, for sure, but aside from the comparisons I made earlier, it just reminded me of other bands I like, who I think do what they do better. It was almost in between a few of genres.

Then a really good song came on. Bigger. Louder. Beats a-go-go. It’s from their first album. This makes me want to dance, but it’s reasonably removed from how the rest of the gig’s been. I’m no expert but it was way way more electronica. Perhaps even pure electronica, who knows. If the rest of the gig had continued more in this fashion, I think they’d have nailed the balance quite well.

But it didn’t, it went back to more guitar driven stuff which ended up disappointing me a little. It was more electronica, but the (very nice) rolling (live) drums were back, slower slow bits. Then it all clicked for me, while I’m sure most others won’t agree. The Cooper Temple Clause rocked the live rock-electronica vibe far far better. Just in the way they worked the crowd, stuff was reworked for live, and for a while, when they were flirting with that aspect more on their tours, I literally couldn’t get enough. Songs that you liked, suddenly consume you, keep on giving and the layers are piled on like musical jenga.

But what do I know, everyone else seemed pretty down with Mr Lavelle and co. Especially for the encore, which I did enjoy more. It’s just a shame my favourite song was in the middle of the set, really.

It was alright, as I say. It certainly wasn’t bad. I just think it could’ve been better. I’d go see them again, in two or three tours time, and I reckon it could well be brilliant. Then I’d definitely have a jump around.