The Horrors with Toy and Bo Ningen @ Cardiff Student Union

A strange feeling of nostalgia filled me on Sunday evening as I walked to the Cardiff student union venue where the Horrors would be playing a couple of hours later. This was, probably, the last gig I would see in Cardiff before I depart for the other capital city (London) in the next month. I had my fingers crossed. It needed to be a good one, or it ran the risk of being the experience I associated with Cardiff in its entirety. 

Let me lift the suspense. It was one of the best gigs I have seen this year, and a fitting end. 

Bo Ningen were the first act and continued the theme of under produced loud rock bashing started by my seeing Japandroids on the Thursday. Their relentless energy and volume crashed amongst the gathering crowd. No instrument was wasted - each one sounded like it was playing its own extended epic solo which just happened to be effortlessly co-ordinated with the three other solos going on around it. While you can level the accusation that they sound a little rough around the edges it does not matter at all. When watching a band with their weird dancing, frantic thrashing and aggressive shout-singing and knowing that they are having an impossible amount of fun it is extremely difficult not to join them in that mentality. 

Following Bo Ningen was Toy, a band so perfectly suited to supporting the Horrors it was ridiculous. Happily riding on the wave of excellent live music started by the inaugural act they put together a flawless set and, although they were the worst act of the night, they still played with an exciting and progressive sound that surely won them a few more fans. In my personal opinion it felt like Toy were actually a step up from where the Horrors started out, with a very similar sound which felt a touch more accomplished. But I'll explain that comment further in a moment.

This moment. When the Horrors brought out Strange House in 2007 I did not enjoy one bit of it. My opinion has cooled somewhat but it is still not an album I would struggle to recommend and 5 years ago I could not have seen myself going to, let alone enjoying, a gig by these morose melodiers. I disliked the album so much that I purposefully ignored Primary Colours, their second (my mistake). However, when Skying came out last year it was impossible to ignore. A glorious, transcendent and beautiful record which I was not expecting. In a similar vein, the Horrors graced the stage with a glorious, beautiful, transcendent and spectacular performance that all were so very lucky to behold. They played each song perfectly and spending the second half of the act completely devoted to their last album was a wondrous decision by them. The crowd adored them, arms aloft and feet stepping on feet in reckless abandon. Perhaps the best moment was that bit in Endless Blue where it goes from soft tones and slow teasing of guitar and brass into the attack of guitar strokes which evoke so much of the very best of Brit rock. 

Summary - the Horrors were chuffing incredible. A must see.