It’s not every band that would shout out Looney Tunes voice actor Mel Blanc mid-set, but then 100 Gecs are not what you’d call a conventional band. Their 2019 album 1000 Gecs smashed hyperpop and high energy dance into Reddit meme culture and nu-metal aesthetics into a gloriously chaotic mash that has inspired collaborations from Charli XCX, Rico Nasty and Fallout Boy, they’ve played Coachella dressed as neon wizards and supported Nine Inch Nails. Unconventional is very much what they do.
They’re on stage for a little under an hour tonight; tearing through each song in a couple of minutes in massive energetic rushes that throw beats and bleeps and pitched-up vocals into a dizzying blur punctuated by sampled blasts of heavy metal guitar and Hanna Barbera sound effects. Hits ‘stupid horse’ and ‘money machine’ prompting full crowd shoutalongs from an over-14s crowd that matches the chaotic energy coming from the stage in a frenetic neon blur. In that short time on stage they manage to race through their first album, throw in a few songs from new release 1000 Gecs and even manage to fit in a mercifully short acoustic set complete with Laura Les perched on a stool like a hyperpop Marriane Faithful.
It’s a total sugar rush of a set, a giddy and addictive explosion of noise with the pop sensibility and charisma of a Netflix animation. This, combined with a healthy dose of outsider art and anti-capitalist sentiments gives 100 Gecs a darker depth to the riotous flashes of gender-free, genre-free madness.
Listen to 100 Gecs here
