Every year, in the run-up to it's award ceremony, the NME magazine sends four acts on the road to test the adulation of it's magazine's readers.
Looking back through previous line-ups is always a fascinating experience to see some of the biggest names in contemporary music playing such low positions. The biggest example of how a low-down act has eclipsed all after it came in 2000 when a little known band called Coldplay have gone through opening act to stadiums. Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Kaiser Chiefs, Florence and the Machine and The Vaccines are also names that have begun their way to the big time as an opening act here.
This often givens a lot of line-ups a baffling retrospective look - it seems preposterous that Maximo Park were above Arctic Monkeys, for instance - but it can often be a chance to find future stars. Alternatively it can be a chance to see if the NME hype machine's targets are as good as they say they are. Often they are hit-and-miss - for everyone bona fide superstars worthy of their hype come acts that don't quite warrant the hype.
After a year or two exploring other gestures, all the acts on here are guitar-heavy. It's still the standard NME sound of recent years, but a sound that has not had the same popularity as it did in the indie heyday of 2005. Nevertheless it's been touted 2013 is the comeback of indie and the hype machine turns back to guitar acts to see if the old formula of getting them high still works.
Much hyped, not least by NME, are the evening's opening pair on the last night of the tour. Birmingham act Peace, who open, are very highly hyped. There is some confusion as to what their actual sound is - grunge, 80s music and Britpop have all been touted as potential sounds.
There's elements of all of these sounds but the sum total is all that matters. On that score, they do very well. A driving mixture of sound creates some very impressive music. While lacking on record, here it sounds massive, leaping out of the Brixton Academy's PA. The bass riff and pounding drums provide an immaculate soundscape the guitars growl on top of.
Particular delights are Bloodshake, which is teased in with the snippet of annoying dance craze Harlem Shake, and California Daze. These songs provoke a frenzied reaction amongst those who have come early, and even provide one of the best reactions an opening act has wished for.
Frequent NME cover stars Palma Violets are the other act seen as heralding the much-hyped "guitar comeback". This is the final show before their debut album comes, and the Londoners are on one of the biggest stages they've been on - bigger than the corner of the room stance they normally wind up in. Touted by many as the new Libertines, this is a chance to prove such expectations.
However their set is not quite the same class as before it, or at least at first. The first two songs don't get the crowd going. But as they progress the songs get heavier and happily ditch the melodies earlier tunes were reliant on.
This is good as the band's heavier moments get the crowd jumpier and the class of song improves. It all begins to make sense towards the end, as the music begins to get more and more lively.
Following on is Miles Kane, whose already had a big contribution this year with the sublime Give Up. New material indicate there's more where that came from on top of his impeccable debut record.
Give Up serves as a grand opener as Kane, dressed like a French jockey, leads his band on a merry charge through his catalogue. The crowd takes time to warm up but when they truly awaken for Rearrange it's a grand reaction, with what feels like the whole venue joining in for the chorus.
Stretched to prog-rock levels, closer Come Closer is a final rush through after a masterful set. There's even some cliche rock posturing as Kane hurls his guitar to the ground at the end, but there's no denying he's had the tunes for a good set.
Finally the headliners. Django Django may have hit number 33 with their album but it got massive acclaim, including a Mercury Prize nomination. There music is led by synthesizers and percussion as much as by the guitar, and the band from all corners of the UK - Northern Irish singer, English bassist, Scottish keyboard player and drummer - were looking to take the place by storm.
There'd been some debate as to who should have been on top between Kane and the Djangos, with the latter even booed by some fans when Kane said it was great to tour with them.
While the Djangos weren't bad, their music seemed to lack something. As much as the crowd lapped it up, it just lacked the power the three before it managed and as a result it took longer to get going.
The songs with less reliance on guitars was certainly the more interesting, and also the best of what they surfaced. But ultimately the feeling Kane should probably have topped the bill just kept surfacing too frequently.
Overall though the acts were still rather impressive. People may mock the fact the NME has again reverted to going heavy on guitar-based music, but the bands provided do lend credibility to the theory guitar music is about to embark on it's 40908th revival. A few more bands like could help provide the spark music has been crying out for in the past 5 years.
4/5
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