Review: The Locust - London Astoria - 08/12/08

San Diego foursome, The Locust, are back in the UK for an appearance at All Tommorows Parties but still find the time to squeeze in a handful of shows and tonight is a support slot for Mike Patton's Fantomas at London's Astoria.

The band are no strangers to opening up for bands at venues of this capacity. In 2004, they opened for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Every night resulted them in being bottled, booed and to a lesser extent being escorted out of the venue by police escort. Tonight, they are playing for a crowd of people who in majority haven't seen or heard of them before. It could go either way.

Despite the change of sceneary of a small club stage to a venue of this size, the band have encircled themselves around their own equipment in the middle of the stage. They arrive on a burst into the first two tracks of their recent release, 'New Erections' which to hear in a venue of this size, sound nothing short of incredible. A lot of the crowd seem intrigued but the band manage to conjure up a round of applause after each song. They managed to squeeze enough back catalogue to satisfy any fan in the space of just over 30 minutes. Highlights of the night were to hear the whole 'Safety Second, Body Last' EP in full as well as 'We Have Reached An Official Verdict...Nobody Gives A Shit'.

As far as creativity is concerned, The Locust are one of the best live bands out there. If you have just heard them on record, you really need to see them with your own eyes to believe it.