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The War On Drugs

@ Electric Ballroom, London, 28 February 2012
3-5 stars

by Ben Hogwood

The War On Drugs

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One of the most effective ways to get your audience onside is to get one of them playing for you. This was the policy of Philadelphia's The War On Drugs, who recruited Mr A.N. Other to play a repeating sequence of three chords for them at the height of their Electric Ballroom set - which turned out to be an impressive and majestic version of Brothers.

The leather jacketed maestro did his job on acoustic guitar with little fuss - which is pretty much an accurate summing up for the gig as a whole. What lifted it above the relatively routine was the music itself, for in Slave Ambient The War On Drugs have shown themselves to be a band capable of some genuinely stellar moments.

Stellar would describe the lighting, too, for at times it was like looking at the colours of the night sky. When singer Adam Granduciel emerged from a particularly striking red and blue nebula it was entirely in keeping with the music, which had epic pretensions but without any of the indulgence. A glaring sun-like light shone from the back of the stage at climactic moments, the drum kit almost totally obscured by its presence.

Baby Missiles, the obvious single choice from Slave Ambient, proved an early highlight, but in truth the band hadn't run through the gears by this point, and the rush of drums and keyboards remained resolutely earthbound. Some of the production subtleties, especially the quickly changing keyboard chords, got lost in the mix to the detriment of the overall sound, which was more one dimensional than might have been expected on hearing the record. But when Granduciel got his harmonica out and let himself go more vocally, the passion of the band's input was evident, even if their movement was minimal onstage.

It was when we got in to the likes of Come To The City and a powerful cover of the Waterboys' A Pagan Place that things really started to lift off. Granduciel's half sung, half spoken delivery, in thrall to Bob Dylan but still distinctive in its own right, was curiously effective.

Finally the second encore track A Needle In Your Eye confirmed that the band could do thunderous rock if required, the epic production and seismic drum fills coming together in a rush of noise, and as small weather systems seemed to form onstage there was a thrilling torrent of sound, the guitar actions becoming ever more frenzied.

With a more dynamic presence on stage this would have been a thunderous and life affirming set - but in another sense it was easy to warm to The War On Drugs for their collective modesty, and the crowd were more than happy with the musical outcome.

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