Monday 10/03/08 Panic At The Disco @ The Roundhouse, Camden

Last time Panic At The Disco were on these shores they had one album’s worth of material, a flamboyant stage show and an exclamation mark in their name. But a lot’s changed since then. They headed back to Sin City having experienced a meteoric rise with their debut album, ’A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’, knowing they would have to come back and prove themselves to a music world questioning whether they’d fluked it first time round. And that time is now.

There’s the usual air of carnival that surrounds Panic in Camden’s Roundhouse tonight: helium balloons, elephant-, eagle-, horse- and rabbit-masked people and even as early as 8pm there’s a girl missing a shoe. But while there’s plenty of off-stage theatrics when the band comes out to open with new tracks ‘We’re So Starving’ (with its apt lyrics: “Oh how it’s been so long, We’re so sorry we’ve been gone, We were busy writing songs for you”) and ‘Nine In The Afternoon’, gone is the extravagant stage set and dance troupe of previous tours. The only stage decoration is a backdrop of the new album’s artwork and the only guest on stage is a member of support group Black Gold who’s on keyboard duties.

Brendon Urie’s voice seems stronger, the new material is distinctly Panic At The Disco but sounds bigger and old favourites like ‘Camisado’, ‘The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide…’ and ‘Lying Is The Most Fun…’ are still just as infectious. When the band exit the stage after ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’ the huge circular hall of The Roundhouse erupts into spirals of feet stomps from the seats upstairs and the cheers from the floor threaten to bring down the pillars. Brendon appears for a solo acoustic performance of “the first song we ever wrote” ‘Time To Dance’ before the rest of the band join him for the last song of the evening ‘Mad As Rabbits’.

Judging by tonight’s performance, Panic mark II aren’t Pretty. Odd. They’re Pretty, er, Good.

CLICK HERE to see the gig in pictures!