Live Review: Wire, Raw Prawn, Housewives

The support acts for the evening fell nicely in line with the expected noisy guitar racket fans of Wire are bound to appreciate. Housewives were aggressively loud, with a shouting frontman and frenetic drummer. Raw Prawn took a turn for the different, opening their set with a couple of electronic-tinged songs, three synths at the ready. The audience seemed unconvinced, but luckily the mood soon shifted when the guitars came out. The set ended just as it felt like they were finding their footing, the short, punchy songs striking the right chord with the general atmosphere.
Wire aren't flashy showmen; their arrival was prompt and simple. Banter was minimal, staging dark and barely lit. The only real time they interacted with the audience was when bassist/vocalist Graham Lewis asked fans if they were struggling with the blinding strobe lighting on the first few songs, and after receiving a resounding 'yes', demanded the lights be stopped.
The band excelled at what was to be expected: big melodic noisy sounds that chop and change unassumingly. The setlist was focused on newer material, and it took a few songs before the audience seemed to respond with the obligatory gentle bodyrocking and head-nodding that comes with post-punk rock music. Doubles & Trebles saw clever harmonies and jagged guitar riffs pounding out, its sudden change from soft to loud working perfectly in the live environment. It was the bracing attack trajectory of songs like Stealth Of A Stork and Magic Bullet that really captivated, cutting a sharp line through the waves of sound on musings like Adore Your Island.
Wire deliver the reliable rock show in its oldest form: four men with their instruments, annihilating eardrums and focusing every fibre on projecting noise and contained chaos.