The Shins @ London Astoria

I cannot tell you how much I had looked forward to crossing this one off the list. Along with a variety of other acts including Radiohead, Tom Waits and Arcade Fire, The Shins were a band I needed to see before I died. Their three records, including the darker, eloquent Wincing The Night Away are amongst my favourites of the millenium so far with Chutes Too Narrow as perfect a song cycle suite of anglophile indie as you will ever find.

This show, at the historic and still ridiculously overpriced Astoria, was part of the NME Awards tour so we got four bands for our money. First up was Alberta Cross whose set we partly missed but who appear to peddle a familiar if well executed form of modern, folkish indie. Their final song though was an elegant sweep that marked them out as an interesting prospect.

Next up, excitingly, was Voxtrot. Heavily touted on the blogosphere and blessed with the finest single of last year in 'Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives', they were a huge disappointment. It wasn't entirely their fault; the guitars were nowhere in the mix so all their outstanding, stabbing guitar motions that punctuate their best work were lost in the mire and the whole set lost its teeth. It ended up a vaguely embarrassing set characterised by Ramesh Srivastava jumping around in a truly weak fashion to try and give the proceedings a little brashness. On record, they're wonderful. Live, just horrendous. They have much work to do.

Polytechnic are hotly tipped indie rockers over here but seemed to be unsure of where their strengths lay. Their songs were all just slightly too long while they never quite gave any reason why they should be given any precedence over any other modern indie acts peddling melodic guitar lines and 'quirky' voiced pop. 'Cold Hearted Business' is a pleasant enough single but just not enough personality on show.

The Shins come on to quite a degree of love being flung their way. They pepper the set with songs from accross their three brilliant albums and not a moment falls flat. The sound again isn't quite right but they fight through with charisma and stage craft, clattering through their up tempo material with more muscle than could have been expected. 'Phantom Limb' provides an early highlight along with opener 'Sleeping Lessons' while most of Wincing The Night Away sounds full and confident. 'Kissing the Lipless' is strident and crisp, even inspiring a short jam at the end, the evening rockingest moment. 'New Slang', while rendered poorly in a Band-like country roll is still a just immense song while 'Caring Is Creepy' tears the house down with its fuzzed drive. A couple of missing masterpieces ('Young Pilgrims' & 'Fighting In A Sack') annoy but mostly, its expertly played and as charming as ever. They remain amongst my favourite acts although seeing them at a smaller, less irratating venue would likely prove a more fruitful experience.

Alberta Cross myspace
Voxtrot myspace
Polytechnic myspace
The Shins