Polica, Shepherd's Bush 21st March 2013

Having seen Polica perform a track on Later With Jools Holland, I'd bought their album and when I found out they were performing live at Shepherd's Bush (a favourite venue of mine) I got myself and my daughter a couple of tickets.

I was intrigued to see how they delivered the unique sound of the album (produced partly through a distinctly non-Cowellesque use of the Autotune).

We turned up early and had a quick drink in the pub next door before using my O2 phone to jump the queue (worth getting a PAYG sim in an old phone just for that :D).

First up, about 8 was Barbarosa, who looked worringly like a grunge duo, but produced an interesting (and highly complimentary) performance, I especially enjoyed the Terrence Trent D'Arby cover (as did my daughter as Wishing Well was a song we often played in the car when she was young).

After the near obligatory hour's delay and the venue feeling almost to bursting point, Darkstar appeared.

The lineup consisted of the singer, Channy Leaneagh, two drummers (their USP) and a guitarist.

If I'm honest I thought they took a little time to hit their stride and Channy Leaneagh seemed to agree, apologising (far too much, I thought) for their performance.

They opened with the awesome Darkstar, a bizarre choice, I thought, especially as the lacklustre performance meant it seemed to come and go almost unnoticed.

However, as the evening progressed, they seemed to warm up. Channy was constantly, it seemed, unhappy with something as she continually fiddled with settings on the (I presume) Autotune, but the confidence of their performance seem to build and by about half way they were nailing it.

The set was pretty much the first album, with a couple of new, but very similar, tracks.

The effective use of two drummers was great really driving the beats through your body.

Channy's performance was impressive too after a faltering start. I heard someone leaving saying "She really hit every note", to which someone replied "Yeah, but she could have missed every word".

It's true, Polica is a sound and a feeling (My daughter said it was like a Pulse, the way the drums impact you) rather than lyrics you can relate to (or even hear, live especially).

Enjoyable by the end, but a little unsteady at the start, would be my summary.

I would certainly say they were worth seeing though.