Credit: Found On Internet

If Yeah Yeah Yeahs’s ever went into politics they’d have the world marching to their tune in no time. In a dramatic parallel to a political rally, their newly adopted six-pronged band sign towers behind the trio - thirty foot of unapologetic power. As speaker, Karen O teases, cajoles and soon has the crowd entranced; there’s even a moment mid-song when she lets out a genuine belly-laugh in apparent glee at her supremacy, staring back at the hundreds of eyes fixed with maniacal glints on her every move. If this wasn’t about rock music it would be slightly unsettling.

Brian Chase’s shattering drums fill the venue and the crowd surge forward in unison for a word-perfect rendition of new album opener Gold Lion. The slender Nick Zinner wields his guitar through the pulsations of Cheated Hearts, the sing-along Way Out and on to the Zeppelin-esque, fat-ass riffs of Phenomena. Framed by the oral equivalent of a converse-clad kick in the face, O slinks around the stage with red silk draped over her face, every move deeply sexy and comically timed. At one point she confesses with that unmistakable twang in her pliable voice, “Sometimes I think I’m bigger than the sound.” It’s easy to see why.  

After three years of relentless touring and trying out countless new songs, YYYs have cut all the fat off for this year’s Show Your Bones LP and tonight they stick mainly within the album’s boundaries. With the addition of some old favourites, Art Star and Maps, the new songs are played with a brutal confidence worthy of their new band symbol. Perhaps influenced by O’s move from the big apple to LA, songs like Warrior and Turn Into hint at a vulnerability not explored in 2003’s Fever To Tell. In any respect, these additional moments of acoustic clarity make for the most balanced and exhilarating gigs of YYY’s career.

Whilst other bands of this decade’s new wave renaissance have struggled finding inspiration within the confines of a sound now generic, YYYs have managed to surpass the musical and stylistic appeal of 1970s New York to become one of the most enjoyably fresh live acts around today.