I almost skipped watching !!! (chk chk chk) back in the middle part of 2009 and even though their set was pretty disappointing, I discovered an amazing support act from Australia called The Temper Trap.

Having never heard of them, I was genuinely impressed by their performance and their fun kind of guitar rock. Catchy beats and interesting riffs. Then there’s this song you may have heard of called Sweet Disposition which is simply brilliant. It was featured n the movie (500) Days Of Summer.

As soon as I noticed they were playing a show in Koko in December, and on a Monday as well, I bought tickets right away.

The day itself was pretty horrible.

As it was my day off, I decided to purchase advance tickets for Avatar at Odeon in Camden as it would finish a few minutes before the doors opened for the gig at Koko which was just down the road. It would be perfect.

Unfortunately, the moment I stepped out of the door, huge amounts of snow started falling. As such, the bus I needed was late by an hour which was real puzzling as other buses, including the same route going in the opposite direction, were all running. Just the one bus I needed. The world was out again to screw me over.

As a result, I arrived in Camden an hour late for the screening I already paid for and had to sit in a coffee shop alone for almost an hour and a half waiting for doors to open at Koko.

Due to the “snow storm”, there was hardly any queue really. A few minutes before 7, there were less than 10 people waiting to get in. Thankfully, they didn’t let us wait to long.

People eventually started coming in around 8 in the evening.

There was a support band whom I can’t remember at the moment and can’t be bothered looking them up now. I don’t think they didn’t mention who they were on stage and I don’t care as there was nothing special about them. The only thing they had going was the fact that they had a female bassist.

The wait was excruciatingly long especially when there is an obnoxious group of people in front of you. They started out as 3 people. Then 5 of their friends came an hour later, squeezing into the already packed front area. Later on, 7 more friends squeezed in and made things pretty damn annoying. Oh, they were from Australia.

Temper Trap probably came up on stage around 9:30. At this point, the venue was really packed up to the rafters. When I watched Jack’s Mannequin here, I was at the back so didn’t see how many levels Koko had. From the front, you could see how many levels there were. Unlike Shepherd’s Bush Empire, tickets allowed access into all areas.

They played the entirety of their album Conditions plus a new song and a cover of Bruce Springstein’s Dancing In The Dark. Highlights of the night were Sweet Disposition, Science of Fear and Drum Song which was amazing.

It was a solid show and the crowd was really into the band. Still, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected.

The magic and awe which I experienced when I saw them the first time at Electric Ballroom was lost. This could have been caused by my frustration with the obnoxious group in front of me but it was simply different.

Don’t get me wrong, the show was still pretty tight and was a great performance from the band. There was simply something missing which was present the first time and really caught my interest.

In some way, this could be attested to their sudden shot to fame which is all good for them and they were loving the cheers from the crowd and their performance was fueled by them.

They already had a 3-day show at O2 Empire set prior to the Koko gig. Two days have already sold out and my decision to purchase tickets for the last day lay on my experience on this day. Sadly, it wasn’t a brilliant one.

In my case, I still love them and would continue listening to them. As for their shows, I think I’ll take a break from them for awhile.