At Koko

Kap Bambino are a French electro band. I first saw them supporting Atari Teenage Riot a couple of years ago. That was a really good gig. I even started following FOE who were the opening act. Kap Bambino didn’t quite click for me, but one of my friends got really into them. When he asked if I was up for seeing them again, knowing what to expect this time, I thought I’d give them another go.

You know it’s a weird running order when the band you want to see is after the headliner act. But when your night runs to four in the morning (and it’s not a rave where your audience is expected to be nocturnal) it’s not too surprising. Vitalic was the headliner, surrounded by some DJs who were fairly forgettable. There was a second room (read: the bar) which was more dubstep oriented, but we mostly went for generic house over generic dubstep.

I love Koko as a venue. It’s got gorgeous red decor, it’s tiered in such away that it’s easy to get a good view and I like anywhere that feels like a labyrinthe. But saying it has a second room isn’t saying much. I don’t know if you could even fit 100 people in there. The acts in that room weren’t expected to be very popular.

Vitalic was joined on stage by an electronic drummer and a keyboard player. They immediately felt more live and engaging than the DJ before him. The music actually had some dynamic structure to it and more substance than the hook. When you have the confidence to pause between songs at this type of event you are probably doing something right. It may be middle-of-the-road house, but it was well executed and had us on the dance floor.

Kap Bambino were on last, at 3.15am. I was surprised at how full the place still was after Vitalic had played. The DJ between Vitalic and Kap Bambino was forgettable, if occasionally interesting, but was playing the kind of music that would keep you dancing. You could tell when Kap Bambino took the stage as a cacophony descended. I usually think it’s a good thing when a band polarises a room (unless these people are already your fans) and I wasn’t surprised when the room was noticeably emptier after their second song. They were relentless with their tiny female front woman screaming over mangled dance music.

Half the crowd may have left, but the other half loved it. We were asked by two different people who that last band were. The strange running order didn’t seem to matter any more, there wasn’t anything that could follow that. And yes, I was definitely converted.