Gig review of Röyksopp

A blisteringly cold and soaking wet Leeds seemed a tremendously appropriate setting for the ice-cool Scandinavian dance act. The laid-back building and layering beats of Röyksopp Forever from the most recent album, Junior, started proceedings, a song that works its way up to an uplifting crescendo and has an other-worldly, space-travel feel: which would explain why Svein Berge was wearing a huge space helmet and robotic shoulder pads.

It was surprising that the gig wasn't sold out, there still seemed to be a few pockets of space on the dance floor enough to not be jostled around by other people (but surely that's half the fun?) However, this wasn't to say that the atmosphere was lacking, as the people that made up the 70% full Stylus were obviously knowledgeable fans aware and appreciative of all the songs taken from Röyksopp's three studio albums, rather than just necessarily the 'big' hits.

New songs from 2009's Junior were rolled out in pretty quick succession during the first half of the gig. The funk-inspired rolling bass beat of The Girl and the Robot sounded particularly brilliant, with the Robyn vocals (who sings on the album and single versions) immaculately interpreted by Anneli Drecker. Drecker really made the event actually, taking on all the female vocals with a sultry charm and note perfect delivery, while often donning some hilariously elaborate headgear and purple lycra ensemble. Tricky Tricky, This Must Be It and Miss It So Much were all delivered perfectly, no mean feat considering the increased complexity of their latest album.

It was notably however older songs from the classic Melody A.M that really animated the crowd. Chilled ethereal beats from songs like So Easy and Eple, which we've probably come to associate with banking adverts and the like, drifted through your veins with a relaxing opium effect. If there's a criticism about the night, it would be that everything needed to turned up much louder. I definitely didn't have that satisfying ringing of inner ear drum damage that signals a damn good night out. Volume issues aside though, old favourites like Poor Leno really sealed the deal for Röyksopp, who were chanted back on to the stage not once but twice for a double encore.

Particularly chuckle-worthy parts of the evening occurred when blond floppy haired Torbjørn Brundtland kept making hilariously lovely comments in broken Scando-English in between songs and ended with the delightful, "I hope you have a very good rest of life". Excellent, "you too love" I thought to myself before bracing the freezing winter air once more and scuttling home.