Thursday 06/07/06 Gnarls Barkley, Shortwave Set @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

Tonight’s openers, Shortwave Set entertain a handful of early birds with a mixture of laid-back beats, swirly high end noise and soaring vocals. ‘We wrote this number some time ago before Keane stole the title’ protests lead singer Andrew Petitt before going into ‘Is it any Wonder’. And frankly, SWS’s offering proves a lot more entertaining than the flouncey rubbish peddled by Chaplin et al. The dual vocal partnership shared by Petitt and female vocalist Ulrika Bjorne has pangs of Jefferson Airplane in its hazy, woozy delivery, reverberating around tonight’s huge venue. Elsewhere, tracks such as ‘Sling Shot’ (an ode to taking someone’s eye out!) and ‘Slow Motion’ adopt a menagerie of odd instrumental choices (gramophones, melodicas, odd tin can/lap steel guitar combos) to create a Morcheeba-esque sound that would provide a great back backdrop to any sunny afternoon.  

Despite having had their first single ‘Crazy’ literally throttled to death by every radio DJ on the planet, Gnarls Barkley are anything but boring – since the release of their debut album, ‘St. Elsewhere’ the excitement that has followed Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo has been tangible, and tonight is no exception - an excitement that is only heightened by the 25 minute delay to the start of the set, cue impatient whistling and slow hand claps.

But predictably, the wait proves well worth it. Flying out on stage clad in full ‘Angus Young’ style school uniforms, and bursting into a big soul version of the Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, the guys have hairs on the back of the neck stood well and truly skywards. Wearing his ill fitting blazer, short school shorts, and little school cap Cee-Lo shakes his bad self all over the stage, hyping the crowd to a suitable level of hysteria. ‘Go Go Gadget Gospel’ is loud and rousing, giving Cee-Lo the chance to show the audience what he can do behind the mic. But the broken beats and beautiful sample that adorn ‘Just a Thought’ serve as a reminder of Gnarls Barkley’s unsung musical mastermind, Danger Mouse. Sat behind his keyboards/samplers and a bunch of wires, the impeccably dressed DM looks unfazed by the partying madness going on around him, plugging relentlessly away at some electronic musical mastery.

‘The Boogie Monster’ slows down the tempo momentarily, before Cee-Lo rips his school tie off like a kid on the first day of summer holidays, and belts out the fantastically moving album title track, ‘St. Elsewhere’. From out of the lively crowd flies two launched CDs, almost decapitating the oblivious singer. A more prima donna artist might take offence. But not Cee-Lo – “What’s this?” he asks, “Summer holiday hits – God damn, I might check that out!”, and as Danger Mouse kicks off ‘Smiley Faces’, not even musical missiles will wipe the grin off of these guys mouths. “Hmmm, what on earth can we play next” taunts the big bad singer, and sure enough, internet hit ‘Crazy’ sends the crowd predictably mental. The string section that take up the right hand side of the stage really add something to the hit single during tonight’s rendition, and there’s no need for Cee-Lo to sing throughout any of the choruses, the audience taking up the challenge and succeeding wholeheartedly. The internet has spawned some hideous musical success stories (think Sandi Thom, think Nizlopi) but not our mate Gnarls. Wonderfully captivating, and phenomenally entertaining.