British music saviours hit Bristol’s Academy reminding those of us, who aren’t having any of that ‘garage rock’ nonsense, that it is actually worth leaving the house after all.

Before a packed out venue, the Editors play an impressively long set packed with plenty of surprises, one of which was the level of energy contained within lead singer Tom Smith, who wastes no time in flinging himself around in what little space he has.

The stand-out features of the night were, of course, the collection of brilliant singles that the boys have released over the past two years. ‘Bullets’, ‘Blood’ and ‘Munich’ get an overwhelming crowd response, and rightly so; they kick seven types of shit out of the rock drivel offerings of other bands, to which we have been exposed so far this year.

For those of you who are of the opinion that most Editors tracks sound worryingly similar (you would not be far wrong), tonight’s performance is a sigh of relief; b-sides ‘Find a Safe Place’ and ‘You Are Fading’ take the band to another level, and pleasantly dilute the setlist – a sonic sorbet of sorts. Amongst all the angst are moments of poignant reflection in the spine tingling ‘Camera’ and ‘Weight of the World,’ which was accompanied by a giant Madonna-esq glitter ball that got everyone in the crowd going ‘ooohhhhh’.

So there we have it: the Editors. A tried-and-tested antidote for the pap-garage-rock dirge that we are all suffering at the moment.
(4/5) 

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