Mandela Hall, Belfast
Sunday night is hardly an ideal time for a rock show, but, contrary to their surly image, The Horrors appear determined to enjoy themselves.
“I’m not trying to curry favour,” Faris Badwan fibs after just two songs, “but you lot are better than Dublin.” To be fair to Badwan and his cohorts, they have already given the substantial crowd plenty to get excited about, opening with two of the most throat-grabbing songs in Mirror’s Image and Who Can Say, so perhaps it’s not just a cheap ruse to get us onside.
The Essex band still cling to their regulation black drainpipes, but gone are the days when style ruled substance – The Horrors of 2012 is a strident, confident proposition, galvanised by the justified acclaim for their last two albums. There’s precious little engagement with the crowd after that early compliment, but the performance sells itself. Badwan stalks the stage with authority, whipping his mic lead like a young Nick Cave impersonating Morrissey, and he fronts a fantastically well-drilled, powerful band.
Most of the set is drawn from third album Skying, and compared to the rather Teutonic-sounding Primary Colours, the songs are more measured, more melodic and more British. At various points, the band seem to be channelling bands such as Simple Minds, The Chameleons or (especially on the writhing Monica Gems) Suede, but the songs largely match up to the reference points, particularly a swaggering Still Life and a raging I Can See Through You.
Better still are the moments when the band indulge their Krautrock fixation. Sea Within A Sea stops a mite short of the original’s transcendent beauty, but the closing Moving Further Away is of a whole different order of power – at least 15 gloriously tense minutes exploding in an ear-shattering moment of catharsis. Faris buttered us up nicely but there was no need – The Horrors had banished the Sunday night blues.
