Ahh Valentine's Day: roses and hosiery, tantrums and tablecloths, w(h)ining, dining, candles, spangles... poor old martyred Saint Valentine barely gets a look-in these days. Very little is known about the various Saint Valentines, except for their names, obviously, and that they died, like, ages ago. I even tried looking on Wikipedia but it didn't help much, and, to be honest, I live by the age-old mantra that 'If Wiki don't be a knowin', then it just ain't worth a knowin''.
Nonetheless, this year, I went all early Christian Church on this little festival, and a lack of religious knowledge or belief didn't bother me in the slightest. It still doesn't. 'But how?' I imagine you to cry. 'How did you get back the original spirit of Saint Valentine?' Well, ye brethren, simply by checking out French fashionista-house duo, Justice, at The Astoria. They've got song-titles like 'Genesis' and 'Waters of Nazareth', and there's that big cross they carry around everywhere. Plus, they even have a track called 'Valentine', which is obviously fairly appropriate.
Despite arriving a little late (and thereby missing both the support and, alas, the stonking intro to album and live opener 'Genesis') we were nonetheless quickly in the thick of things. The congregation, a mixture of glow-stick children, couples, trendies, and pissed up nobbers, wasn't gonna let us ease in gradual-like, oh no. If you ever find yourself staring up at a big glowing cross in a room filled with portentously thudding beats and scorching flashes of electro noise, then you too will feel the everyday shackles of self-restraint somehow begin to lift. The accepted model for behaviour, I gather, is somewhere between an East-End rave-up and an Evangelical church gathering: "I feel the power of the Lord upon us!" I might have cried.
Justice proceeded to rip through most of their mysteriously (un)titled debut album. It was awesome, obviously, but somehow quite one-paced. There was little of the delicacy that the duo showed on record and last time I saw them at KOKO. They barely touched their ravaging remix of Franz Ferdinand's 'The Fallen' and Uffie's weird skanky vocals on 'Tthhee Ppaarrttyy' were pretty much lost. Instead they did a probably too lengthy version of their ubiquitous Simian remix, which was a bit unnecessary. 'D.A.N.C.E' though, was obviously a belter, despite suffering overplay in the public domain. It's amazing how, live, the song is like some kind of electro Bible story, with the sweating multitude fed by just the two Frenchmen and five little letters.
It was a lengthy set, but still seemed to whizz by, marching on relentless rhythm and waves of jangly sing-along kiddie-choruses. Justice have the Go! Team's ability to bond a crowd together. But they still let each individual feel certain that they are, how you say, le plus hyper-cool? When it came to the closing noises of 'Phantom' they were nearly done. The hairy leather-clad Frenchies milked the adulation for a bit before playing a slowed-up lighters-out 'We Are Your Friends' for the lovers. Cheesy? Yep. But it kinda worked. Then they waved a bit and were gone, the high priests of nave-rave returning to their dark vestry. The giant cross flickered and faded. The crowd dispersed. And, the true spirit of St Valentine? Somewhere between a group of intimidating chaps with pointy elbows, and a lovely Australian brunette, I think I found it.
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