Love Connection open up proceedings in a confused mess of noise that I’d struggle to call music. Thankfully as they continue the level of musicality is slightly increased. However the band still looks and sounds as awkward as a camel in a swimming pool.

Listening to their recordings later it is impossible to even correlate with the shambles I witnessed live, it sounds like a completely different band. While their recordings come off as tight little, ephemeral pop numbers; live it’s all shitty art rock, with simplistic loops awkwardly arranged around indecipherable vocals. The band themselves are crammed on top of each other without room to move.

The lead singer and guitarist seems to want to do everything himself attempting to jump haphazardly between guitar, keys, loops, drums and vocals crushing any sort of coherence (delegate tasks man!) It isn’t all bad though at their best there are strange glimpses of Joy Divisionesque post-rock but it is all to brief and lost under the swell of noise. If they can better minimalise their music to the necessary elements there is a good chance that Love Connection could be a much better band.

When The xx start the room as packed as full as it can get. Although the band look like bad eighties throwbacks with their excessive jewelery making them look like Mr T, happily the music transcends time and fashion.

A punter somewhere in the front blows bubbles that float out into the gold light like fireflies entranced by the lush music. Chrystalize shows early on the soft entrancing quality of the bands music. Like a softer more introspective version of fellow Brits The Big Pink, The xx use naturalistic drum machines and synths together with jangly guitar and thick bass. Not to mention the combined vocals of guitarist Romy Madley Croft and bassist Oliver Sim which interweave gently lulling us in like sirens.

Where support act The Love Connection got bogged down in over instrumentation The xx are perfect examples of restraint. Playing minimalist notes that ring forth with a contemplative nature like on VCR or the mournful pop of Teardrops recalling early Cocteau Twins. The only slightly disappointing number is Basic Space in which Sim loses the bass to simply sing, perhaps one step to far along the fine line of minimalism they generally walk so well. Islands brings a slightly more up tempo quality to the sombre set with it’s cry’s of, “I am yours now, so now I don’t ever have to leave…”

Other highlights include Fantasy and infinity but it is a cover of Aailyah’s Hot Like Fire which brings new life to a all but forgotten RnB track with their slow down and strung out style. The band return for a single encore with the stripped back version of Stars leaving the crowd in a state of contemplative bliss as the pour out into the night or stay and talk through an exceptional gig over a few drinks.