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It’s always a bit weird seeing bands that formed an identity around being young and directionless in their ‘later years’, and when we spot Brut’s frontman Eddie Argos looking a little older and a little wiser standing by the bar (with a glass of water) it serves as a reminder that, yes, 2004 - and the Franz Ferdinand-led ‘art wave’ scene that came with it - really was TEN whole years ago.
As soon as they take to the stage however, with their irony-laden classic ‘We Formed a Band’, this decade falls away. Argos and his merry band of loveable rogues are as energetic as ever, and their punky-meets-Britpop tracks with wry, knowing spoken-voice vocals, which can sometimes feel a little monotonous on record, are kinetic and pogo-inducing when bashed out live.
The crowd love him, seriously - there is a gaggle of girls (who are definitely too young to remember this the first time around) clustered about Argos’ feet making eyes at him like it’s 2005. He’s funny too, wandering off into a seemingly improvised musing about how when they agreed to play Tooting they had no idea where it actually was – “I’ve never been this far south on the Northern line before” – he says, half to himself and half to us.
We get a few new numbers – “This one’s a new one, it’s slow and reflective. They can’t all be about getting drunk you know” - one which has more than a whiff of Black Grape to it, but the classics are all there: ‘Emily Kane’, ‘Nag Nag Nag Nag’, ‘Modern Art’, ‘Alcoholics Unanimous’, played tightly and as fresh as the day they were released.
We feel like we’re back at the local sticky-floored indie discos of our youth. Not a care in the world. And that’s what Art Brut do best.
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