Live Review Panic! At The Disco, Brixton Academy, London 12th January 2016

It’s always interesting to watch a musician play live right ahead of their album release. A curious time for all manner of artists, the success of their show can be balanced on a knife edge. Luckily for Panic! At The Disco, they never did really care about expectations anyhow.

Taking on London’s O2 Academy Brixton at the turn of a year could be a challenge for anyone - regardless of the impending release of fifth effort ‘Death of a Bachelor’ - but there’s something about the infectious energy of Brendon Urie & co. that seems to effortlessly shake off the cobwebs of January.

What comes as an unusual surprise is the amount of new material aired this evening. What’s even more staggering is the reaction it garners. As the dapper gents dive in and out of Urie’s five album-strong back-catalogue, there’s a kind of hysteria in the air that’s normally only reserved for ginormodome pop concerts. It’s something that Urie revels in, whether it be when he’s sat tinkling on the ivories for ‘Nine In The Afternoon’, daring to cover a snippet of Bowie’s ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’ or back-flipping his way through ‘Miss Jackson’.

Whether this is a first exposure to his new material, or you’ve been hitting repeat on YouTube for the past few months, it almost doesn’t matter: Panic! At The Disco are simply here to entertain, and they do it so well.