In years to come, Electric Six will be just like Phish – cult status, never-ending touring and no need to release new music. In some ways, they’re already half way there, having hired and fired recruits to the band, been dropped by their indie label, picked up by another (a major in fact) and released that crucial cult record or two. Or even three. In less than two years.

Frontman Dick Valentine is still around, and so he should be. In videos he holds the fort but on stage, he merges with the rest of the suited and booted members of Electric Six.

A good half an hour is devoted to taping down cables on the stage before they make their entrance. Drum-kit and other instruments had been set up earlier, so this can only be assumed Electric Six like to throw diva-esque tantrums by insisting on being fashionably late.

Since signing to Warners however, the Detroit dukes of disco-rock have had to come down from their pedestal of playing to generous sized venues and festivals and start from scratch, which may explain why they have crammed themselves into the student dive of the ULU, barely able to avoid elbowing each other on the small stage. Matters aren’t helped with Valentine reverting back to his old habits of impromptu press-ups, stand-up aerobics, manic hand-waving and diving into the crowd.

The usual suspects from album Fire are played – ‘Naked Pictures Of Your Mother’, ‘She’s White’, ‘Synthesizer’, ‘Dance Commander and (of course) ‘Danger! High Voltage’ – all of which go down a storm with the rowdy crowd. New material from the Six’s forthcoming album including recent free download single ‘Vibrator’ are dropped, and on first impression, are impressively exciting. It’s more of the disco vibe yet with a touch more melody (translates as Valentine singing).

Tonight is the last night of their winter tour, and by the look of things, it would appear Valentine’s suit is on its last thread, with a large hole visible under the right arm of his jacket. Nice to see Warners distribute their budget on artists evenly.

It is a Monday night and with signal failures on the Northern line, I duck out before the encore of ‘Gay Bar’ and ‘Radio Ga-Ga’ (their new single which was originally supposed to have been released a year ago before they were unceremoniously dropped by XL). Better late than never. Unfortunately the same can’t be said about their time-keeping.
(3½/5)

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