NME Awards Tour, O2 Academy Brixton - review

Setting the tone with a confetti explosion at the start of the second song, at a time when being the biggest indie rock act around is a kingdom of the blind situation, they demonstrated the enduring sense in basing a career on big tunes played extra fast.

Barrelled along by thunderous drums, songs such as Something Good Can Work and the chiming Do You Want it All? had melody and energy to spare.

Charisma was another matter, an absence that the four-strong line-up of NME favourites suffered from overall.

Azealia Banks set the bar high first off, gripping with just a DJ playing beats and bass thanks to a sharp-tongued rapping voice so foul-mouthed she was even selling filthy T-shirts in the lobby. She can sing too, pulling off an uncanny impersonation of Amy Winehouse doing Valerie.

After her, Camden's Tribes may or may not have played a forgettable set of grungey, scuzzy, rock. Indie really is out of ideas if this is a buzz band.

Metronomy were equally lacking for personality but had at least found a way to transform their frosty, cerebral electropop into partytime anthems on stage. The Look and The Bay were powerful highlights in muscular live guise, suggesting that this is one band with a fascinating future beyond today's four-headed hype machine.

NME Awards Tour: Two Door Cinema Club, Metronomy, Tribes, Azealia Banks