Gig review of God Speed You Black Emperor! + Kepler

God Speed You Black Emperor! come from Canada. They wear shirts, buy amplifiers and get scared by tall buildings. They know that it's up to each one of us to make sense of the mess we're in but they do have HOPE. The hope is demonstrated in two hours of glorious transcendental noise that batters itself numb against the monoliths of corporate globalisation while still singing with clarity and euphoric vision. It's exciting, terrifying and beautifully seductive all at once. The music is led from the violin, driven by percussion, and given shape, texture and harmony by guitars. Hand scratched films spool eerily in the spaces around and behind them, eight or maybe nine musicians wander in and out of the frame. Samples and tapes flicker off and on. Bradford's St George's Hall is one stop on a European tour that continues until Camber Sands' All Tomorrow's Parties on April 20th. It's a fine and warm old theatre with a great ambience and oceans of space. The crowds are thin, intense and reverential. Kepler, fresh from the Royal Park Cellars the night before, do a respectable support slot with intelligent guitar harmonies and heavyweight drumming: they play slow and quiet songs from the dignified side of the street.