TAME IMPALA

Brixton Academy | October 30th

On their return to London, Tame Impala are greeted with the rapturous applause of Brixton Academy, in what they declare to be their biggest UK gig yet. A loving audience is entirely fixated upon the psych-rock stars, and band leader Kevin Parker is clearly taken aback by the reception. His fidgety awkwardness on stage is an honest embodiment of the human connection felt by every person in the room: here is a band doing what they love for an audience who love what they’re doing.

The atmosphere was electrifying all the way from the tube station to the toilets, and the buzz inside the main room had reached a state of genuine euphoria by the time the band took the stage. There was nothing to hold back an eruption of excitement from the crowd as the band burst into their wonderfully stocky guitar craft, a mixture of both 2010’s Innerspeaker, and their latest album, the universally-acclaimed Lonerism. After some stunning extended versions of Elephant and Desire Be, Desire Go, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards ignited a mass sing-a-long as the venue gradually became lost in a haze of sweat, joy and marijuana smoke.

Basked in the lights of the uncharacteristically dull visuals (90 minutes of green coils?), the music was simply relentless throughout, in spite of the perpetually sweet, frequently mumbled “thank you”s that broke up the set, and there was never a moment of spontaneous improvised jamming that was not well-received. Following a beautifully restrained version of Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind? the set eventually climaxed with the much-anticipated epic Apocalypse Dreams. Returning for an unfamiliar encore, Tame Impala said goodbye with a sublime 10-minute version of stoner-rock steamroller Half Full Glass of Wine, plunging the room into the clammy depths of heady riffdom. There were no fireworks, no surprise cover versions, and no controversial onstage antics. Just decibels and decibels of pure musical ecstasy, and by the looks on the beaming faces of the lingering audience afterwards, they couldn’t have got much higher.

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Words: James Balmont