Now, to me, an hour between doors and the first act seems a little excessive; hopefully Sarah Blasko is peppy enough to whip up the chatty student types who are filling the Great Hall to its capacity.
The Temper Trap are proving to be worth the long wait and gave us all exactly what we needed in the shape of tension builder Drum Song for starter and Fader for their second course. Cue massive chorus sing alongs, hands in the air and dance parties breaking out, as the crowd went as nuts as is 'cool' to. Choosing tracks from their album Conditions, we are being treated to everything from Down River to ever popular Sweet Disposition whose extended intro has been punctuated so neatly with tamborines in time with firefly lighting patterns.
A delightful mix of haunting vocals and loop-the-looping us up-and-over from dance beats to the downright chilled out as Love Lost induces clusters of dance troops throughout the capacity audience. The Temper Trap's live set has a distinct prog-rock element to it as the emotion on each note speaks more than any lyric could.
The inevitable two-song encore lent to us a brand new song, Battle, which is laden in swaying riffs and rhythms tinged with melancholy. Not a whole world away from the offerings on Conditions but still a wonderful track to hear live.
For me, a super chilled out set with fabulously dynamic lighting throughout that kept me guessing more than the music did; the water drumming is a seemingly apt climax for the Cardiff first timers finale. Even the first row got wet. A decent evening but nothing adventurous. No improvs. No risks. Just plenty of dance-indie-electro-pop fun.
BBPD.
