Arriving fairly late at the gig (we got distracted by The Culture Show... what?) we managed to miss all of the support. 'Oh well,' we thought, 'We're here for the fucking Coral!'

Much to my surprise, the venue was rammed; in my head the Coral are still a fairly niche band, only playing big venues as a support act. The reality is that they're bloody huge, easily packing out Brixton.

As the lights dimmed and the band set to enter, a huge, pastel drawn Hiroshima was revealed as the backdrop. A rather disturbing image for an indie gig one might think, but then the Coral are not a band who just want to lazily plod through some songs unthinkingly. Indeed, the texture of their music and their earthy, perceptive lyrics show them to be quite the intelligent band. Hurrah for intelligent bands!

Their set was tight and energetic, and showcased all of their most loved hits. There was certainly a heart of darkness to their show however, with all the new songs accompanied by eerie black and white animations of death related images, all projected onto the giant Hiroshima cloud. This never allowed you to get entirely comfortable with their music, keeping you alert and engaged.

Much dancing was engaged in throughout the evening, with singles 'In the Morning' and 'Dreaming of You' setting the crowd alight. They were a slightly aggressive bunch though, with various objects being flung in the direction of the stage. Much to the band's chagrin a full pint hit the keyboards at one point. Suffice to say that they didn't appear best pleased.

Anyway, that’s enough. They were good. End of story.