ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror 2013

When a band curate an ATP event sometimes you’re left trying to put the pieces together of where the inspiration comes from, why the band love those particular acts, how all these sounds and ideas have converged. With Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Alexandra Palace however, the process seems completely natural, showing you a line through their career to now and illuminating what has made the band who they are.

From their art house leanings, the garage rock that underpinned their first EP and album through to the extravagant dressing and fashion; it’s all there in this eclectic line up.

The day starts with music royalty. Well, Prince Rama and King Khan. Both, it would be fair to say, have a theatrical side. As Prince Rama’s heady cocktail of pop synths and energised percussion fills the main hall, a parade of zombies enter the stage for their final song, jumping into the crowd as sisters Taraka and Nimai Larso perform a dance routine in the middle of them.

Next is King Khan and the Shrines who are enthroned in the Panorama Room. Dressed in a gold and black feather headdress and chains around his neck it’s impossible to not have fun with their cocktail of good time garage rock tunes and sax and trombone thrown in for good measure, with songs about the importance of having clean hands (amongst other things) – and the crowd lap it up.

Then it’s off to catch The Field. It’s odd seeing him play in the middle of the afternoon. It’s a bright day and the sunlight beaming in through the transparent ceiling of the main hall makes his nocturnal dance, as beguiling as it is, sounds seem strangely out of place. It’s to Axel Willner’s credit then that he still manages to get people to dance playing tracks like ‘I Have The Moon, You Have The Internet’.

With Karen O watching from the back, Alex Zhang Hungtai, or Dirty Beaches if you prefer, screams with intensity creating a sound that is strikingly similar to Suicide. It’s then Black Lips’ turn as they take to the stage, introduced by King Khan. Though some of the songs start to blend in to each other and it all starts to sound all a bit garage rock the last two songs are sublime. ‘Bad Kids’ still sounds great and Khan returns to recreate a track from their gospel supergroup side-project called The Almighty Defenders. ‘Bow Down And Die’ is a ramshackle love song, and, as they shout ‘Does he hold you like I hold you?’, there’s a communal feeling in the room.

Having toured with the band in 2004 it was quite a coup for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to get The Locust to reform for this event – and they deliver a set of unremitting and uncompromising magnificence. Dressed head to toe in boiler suits and combining heavy distortion, synthesizers and screamed vocals, they create a wall of noise. It’s a jolting set that is as incredible as it is intense.

You know what you’re going to get with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (but this is almost certainly a good thing). Their blues is of the most visceral sort, after all they’ve been creating their brand of primal rock ’n’ roll for over 20 years now and it’s a finely honed show. Though a game to see how many times Jon shouts the band’s name reveals the number to be 9 (if anyone is interested) and there’s a nagging feeling that they’re lacking a female frontperson dressed in a silver foil suit with black angel wings wearing bug eyed glasses who at times seems to be eating the mic…

Speaking of which it was then Yeah Yeah Yeahs time. Karen O is, we can all agree, everything you want from a rock star. Attention-grabbing, oozing charisma and full of vibrant energy, she is the consummate front woman. Even just shouting the letters ‘ATP’ she sounds cooler than at least ten other lead singers combined.

It seems many of the crowd have just come to see the band and they won’t have been disappointed. They start with ‘Sacrilege’ and ‘Mosquito’, Karen dressed in that shiny silver suit with black feather wings attached (of course).

It’s sometimes easy to forget how many ‘hits’ they have in their locker. Tonight’s set sees them cherry pick from their collection of behemoths. Each album is represented and each track reverberates around the palace walls. ‘Zero’ is huge, and sees the crowd become a heaving mass of dancing bodies while ‘Y Control’ is frenzied art punk. They play ‘Bang’, Zinner creating that wiry guitar line while Karen sings ‘as a fuck son you suck.’

For the encore they deliver a stunning and heart-snapping ‘Maps’ and finish with ‘Date With The Night’. Karen puts the mic in her mouth, unleashes a guttural scream and then they hold a pose, creating a dramatic effect before unleashing another sonic assault, Karen swinging the mic and smashing it down over and over. And then it’s over – it’s been one hell of a day.