The electronic duo Nero were greeted by animated cheers and screams from a crowd predominantly made up of Loughborough students on Sunday night as they graced the Students’ Union to perform songs from their 2011 album ‘Welcome Reality’.
After rising rapidly onto their podium of decks, colours and flashing lights with a backdrop of ever-changing abstract visions, Nero opened their set with the apocalyptic beats and sinister baselines they are known only too well for.
The pair wore simple black shirts, along with black shades, looking like ominous lords ready to dominate Room One. The regimental clapping and raising their hands into the air, which occurred at several points in the night, acted like commands to the zealous spectators, who immediately obeyed the twosome as though they were under a curse.
It is no wonder that Sasha Frere-Jones, a New Yorker Magazine journalist, picked Nero’s remix of ‘Blinded by the Lights’ as one of his top songs of 2009. It was certainly a tune, which led to a frenzy amongst the crowd, showcasing Nero’s brilliance which isn’t limited to the album, which knocked Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’ off the top spot back in August.
Another popular song was their top 10 single ‘Guilt’, complimented by the striking voice of Alana Watson. The glory of Nero is that they can write simple yet motivating lyrics, brought to life by Alana’s vocal, and also find exciting ways of presenting them. On this record, the despairing words are merely a preparation for the ugly robotic bluster that follows.
Nero entertained their own robots in the form of the raging audience at this point, who take a break from incessant moshing to absorb the husky utterances of ‘I don’t know where we’re going’. This lasts less than a minute before Alana’s feathery voice is merged with a beast of epic dubstep. In turn, this makes Nero’s loyal automatons return to their lunacy of leaping, shouting and, frankly, madness, which is exactly what, should happen in the presence of such spectacular artists.
