Gig played on 22/11/05

Just two years ago, the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club that took the stage at the Brixton Academy were so far up their black-clad arses that they would've been able to see their teeth if they could've been bothered to smile. So somnambulant was their performance that the band found themselves being blown clean out of the building - let alone stage - by Peter Hayes' former alma mater The Brian Jonestown Massacre, a band so f*cked-up it was a wonder they managed any songs between bouts of internecine squabbling and falling over drunk.

And yet this was a mere prelude to the drama that unfolded as, dropped by Virgin, BRMC split-up in a fog of ugly vibes and recriminations before engaging in one of the most remarkable resurrections since Easter was invented with the windswept Americana of "Howl". Tonight's epic show that falls just ten minutes shy of three - count 'em - hours, feels at times like a an act of attrition. This is no longer a band prepared to sleepwalk its way through a set, as shot throughout is a sense of humility and interaction that was palpably absent from their last major tour of duty. Moreover, this is a band prepared to flex its muscles and take a few risks.

Taking the stage alone, Peter Hayes - armed with just an acoustic guitar - tentatively strums his way through "Devil's Waitin'" and "Fault Line" with an affect akin to Blind Lemon Motorcycle Club before being joined by Robert Turner and wayward drummer Nick Jago for a rollicking "Ain't No Easy Way" and it's almost difficult to resist the temptation to yell "Judas!" when they finally plug in for a smouldering "Love Burns".

"Whatever Happened To My Rock'N'Roll (Punk Song)" and "Six Barrel Shotgun" have the band firing on all cylinders as an exuberant Hayes exhorts the mosh-pit, yet sandwiched between these two belters is an exercise in protracted droning that tests the mettle of the even the most seasoned of shoegazers. As "Ha Ha High Babe" follows "Weight Of The World", before giving way to a grinding "Awake" and a sleazy "Red Eyes And Tears", the interest level is maintained via an ability to pass through the boredom threshold into an area of joyful bliss by means of an infectious will to succeed. As BRMC have come to believe in themselves again, so do we.

There are few sights better than black jeans and boots supplemented by a black double cutaway semi-acoustic, as it creates a vortex of screaming, delayed guitar and feedback during a monumental "Heart And Soul". A girl screams with unabashed ecstasy in Yahoo! Music's ear, then giggles nervously and apologises. No need; it's all just as it should be.

by James Marshall