More than 10 years since the duo’s breakthrough from obscure Nottingham post-punks to one of the UK’s most revered alternative bands, you’d still have trouble explaining to an unassuming bystander exactly why Sleaford Mods’ live show works as well as it does.
Stopping off in the bowels of Brixton’s storied Academy in support of January’s acclaimed 13th studio album, The Demise of Planet X, the stage is about as bare as it’s possible to be, save for a chunk of three white blocks at the back that could either be a trio of giant radiators or some sort of industrial container strip. There are two full length mirrors to add a little dimensional trickery but, aside from that, the Mods are simply two men in their fifties, dancing questionably. Jason Williamson, the band’s mouthpiece, favours a sort of light-footed prance as he shouts his pissed-off, frequently hilarious missives to the crowd; Andrew Fearn presses a couple of buttons on his laptop and then spends the rest of each song wiggling about like a toddler let loose after a few too many sweets.
