We Are Scientists have long been one of my favourite bands. I've seen them live countless times and I firmly believe that 'With Love and Squalor' is one of the best indie albums of our time. When I was at uni they used to play gigs all the time but it's been a good few years since I last saw them live. When tickets for the XOYO show originally came on sale I wasn't able to get any so in the weeks leading up to the gig I was keeping an eye out until I managed to score one a few days before.
I'd never been to XOYO and as first impressions go I was pretty disappointed. The place has a random layout and the drinks are ridiculously overpriced. I know it's central London we're talking about but nearly £5 for a small bottle of cider is far from acceptable! The only redeeming quality about the venue is that it has about a 200 person capacity so for a band like We Are Scientists whom I love dearly it was great to see them in such a small and intimate space.
There were two support bands that evening, the first was Paint The Dark and I didn't like them very much. They seemed a little lacklustre and the lead singer awkwardly moved around the stage as if he was doing a bad impersonation of Matt Bellamy by playing lots of different instruments. The second support act were the Glaswegian band (I had to mention that) PAWS and I liked them very much. They're nice and noisy and sound a lot better live than their debut album would have you believe.
There are numerous reasons I love We Are Scientists live, one being their banter (I hate that word but it really is the best verb to describe their on stage chat) and their crowd pleasing energy. A lot of the time I'm not a huge fan of random chat between songs but Keith and Chris do it so well I always find myself laughing and wishing they'd talk for longer. Anyway, on to the music. They played a brilliant set full of old favourites like 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt', "It's A Hit' and 'The Great Escape' that always get the crowd jumping. They also played a ton of new stuff, I'm particularly found of the new album opener 'Rule Don't Stop' plus they squeezed in a couple unreleased songs as well. 'After Hours' is my favourite song (despite not even being on their first album) so I was delighted it was the finishing song pre encore. All in all the gig was fantastic and definitely one of the better times I've seen the band. Stay tuned for my second We Are Scientists gig because I saw them the following night at Koko, keen or what?
Do you like We Are Scientists, have you been to XOYO x
