More famous for their friends than their music the Robots came to Stoke and brought their fierce blend of electro & dance which would have left those watching forgetting all about The Boosh - if it wasn't for Sir Noel of Fielding gracing us with his presence from the balcony and ruining all the girls hard work.
Openers Isosceles kicked off the evening with a set that drew heavily from the influence of two titans of indie music hailing from their Scottish homeland. Combining the spiky guitars and groove of Franz Ferdinand with the wonky keyboards and shouty choruses of Bis, the band's short set showed plenty of potential and they look like ones to watch out for in the future.
Next up were Huski, an act which is a strange collaboration between the Queen Adreena bassist and a Gwen Stefani producer. Their soundclash results in a Goldfrapp goes Europop kinda vibe. The added visuals presented though very swish and expensive did come off rather naff, especially the clips of the guitarist in his best Saturday Night Fever suit pulling sex faces busting out a solos. On the whole too many of the songs sounded the same with the repeated lyrical themes of control and the like coming off a case of trying too hard to be anything other than ordinary.
When the Robots took to the stage after the grand entrance of Noel they immediately showed the new rock teeth they've added to their mix, creating a Yeah Yeah Yeahs wall of sound complete with lots raucous guitars, loud drums and even louder vocals. As the set progressed they delved deeper into the back catalogue to visit the electro sound that they made their name for before bringing back the guitars at the end for a nice garage rock howl at the close. Returning for an encore saw the band explore more musical genres touching on rave in a couple of tracks before ending on a Dizzie Rascal style grime ending that sent the crowd home happy.
A good gig, but sadly for the girls you'll know what will have made it for most people. Noel was there. Therein lies the Robots problem.
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