No Age, Corsica Studios, London

There are stories floating around about No Age’s live reputation. In casual topics of conversation, be it about the highlights of a festival, or a favourite live performance of all time, No Age are often at the top of the list.

And so when you get the opportunity to see them play in Corsica Studios, you go. It’s that simple. The fact that you have to travel to Elephant & Castle – which seems to be in a state of flux; permanently encapsulated in 1971 - is irrelevant. This is LA-based noise rock duo No Age. Their reputation is pretty self-explanatory.

By the time Tense Men turn up to support, the crowd’s already knee-deep. Borrowing members from both Cold Pumas and Sauna Youth, they’re pleasantly surprising in their reverb-laden, laid back performance. A two piece just like the headline act, their tunes are fuzzy – even more so than some of No Age’s most distorted – and their apparent lack of enthusiasm is a crucial component, used in order to achieve that chic slacker aesthetic.

The headliners emerge promptly after, and it’s surprising how effortlessly your average passer-by can push their way to the front. The venue definitely isn’t full even when Dean Allen Spunt and Randy Randall come on stage, bringing you to the immediate conclusion that it must be really easy to fall into the toilets at Corsica Studios. The discrete sparseness of the crowd definitely shows at first: opening with the first track of their latest ‘An Object’ record, ‘No Ground’, drummer and vocalist Spunt surprisingly takes to a bass to kick off proceedings, setting a slightly underwhelming tone that seemed to linger on in the crowd for a while despite its obvious technical quality.

“We’re gonna play some new songs, and we’re gonna play some old songs,” he soon declares after coming back home to his drum kit. ‘Teen Creeps’ immediately bursts into life, the audience – drunk, tired, or a bit of both – flailing gently and with grace to the infectious, raw guitar lines ferociously delivered by guitarist Randall. The ‘hits’ continue, too: new stomper ‘C’mon Stimmung’ followed, with ‘Glitter’, ‘You’re A Target’, and ‘Eraser’ all placed within the star-studded set list.

By the time the last twenty minutes roll in, the air is potently muggy and thick, which seems to prompt the crowd out of their relative slumber. More than half the audience erupts into disjointed body flopping, the band now clearly enjoying themselves a lot more than when they first came on stage. “Let’s play a few more, what do you want to hear?’ Spunt says, still trying to catch his breath during a rare break in this ultimately blistering performance. “Everybody’s Down!” is the general consensus.

The two-minute track, taken from debut album ‘Weirdo Rippers’, sees Randall leap into the crowd, the pinnacle of the show arriving in tow. This is the No Age magic everyone was talking about, coming into fruition and full force. Reputations are hard to live up to, especially in dingy, dark corners such as these, but bit by bit the LA duo remind everybody of their unparalleled cause.