CityLife

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Nick Zinner, Brian Chase and Karen O

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Apollo
December 6, 2009

IT’S instantly apparent that vivacious singer Karen O is no slouch. She heads what must surely be one of the best live shows around at the moment – a real feast for the ears and eyes.

The band rocketed through their back catalogue with frenetic energy in front of a sold-out crowd, matched only by Karen’ s boundless jumping, twirling, crawling and note-perfect singing.

She stepped on stage in a trademark wacky outfit: a shaman-like headdress and matching over-sized poncho.

Treat

After whipping off the dress to reveal an equally bizarre catsuit, the New York-based group got down to business as they opened with Gold Lion.

As well as Karen’s stunning image, the stage set was also a treat, with a huge eye behind the band and three huge Ys lowered from above to flank the group. Crowd-pleasing track Zero brought one of the biggest reactions of the night. But the band had saved another treat for later, as five minutes’ worth of confetti rained down on the stage.

And after the second encore, back came the threesome for an acoustic version of Maps, a personal highlight in a night full of pleasures. If they aren’t one of – if not the best – live shows around then I’ll eat one of Karen O’s over-sized hats.