More about: Viagra Boys

"This song is about dogs!" Sebastian Murphy yells before he and the rest of Viagra Boys launch into a rendition of 'Secret Canine Agent' from last year's album Welfare Jazz. Like the rest of their set at North London's Kentish Town Forum, the live version is protracted and lunatic, displaying both the absurdist essence of the band and the extreme talent with their instruments.

As with any band, Sebastian Murphy — being the Viagra Boys frontman — gets the lion's share of attention, and tonight he earns it with topless dad dancing, solid vocals and curling up in a ball on the stage to deliver lines where other frontpeople would make themselves larger.

But as is also so often the case, the rest of the band do not ordinarily receive enough credit. Viagra Boys may make absurd, almost Dada, punk, but their pedigree is jazz, with many in the quintet having been trained such. Henrik Hökert on bass and Elias Ljungqvist at the keyboard, plus stand-ins guitarist Henrik Palm, Isak Hedtjärn on saxophone and Hugo Mårtenson on drums are all the kind of musicians so practised and seamless that you don't notice they are playing — only that the songs you know and love so much are being perfectly reproduced. So it is that tracks from Street Worms, Welfare Jazz, and a couple from the yet-to-be-released Cave World get glorious renditions, most of them taking on a spikier, more untamed overall feel.

'Sports' of course gets the wildest reception, but Welfare Jazz lead single 'Ain't Nice' also has the Forum going apeshit, while even tracks that get the largely instrumental treatment (with one or two seeing Sebastian leave the stage altogether) keep the feral atmosphere healthily stoked. Niche though their inside jokes and jazzy noodlings may be, Viagra Boys' charisma and tight live stylings are enough to draw a manic grin from beginning to end.

Viagra Boys played:

Issue Three of the Gigwise Print magazine is on sale now! Order here.

More about: Viagra Boys