Caught Live: Crystal Castles @ The Academy, Dublin

Toronto duo Crystal Castles are despised and vilified by as many people as they’re loved by. Which is a lot of people either way, and probably explains why tonight’s Academy show is a sell-out – although that may also be partly down to the presence of fellow noiseniks HEALTH in the support slot. Admittedly, CC’s live show – a blitzkrieg of electronic noise and strobe lighting – isn’t for everyone, but it’s certainly captivating, and frequently chaotic (singer Alice Glass recently hit the headlines for laying into a ‘fan’ who groped her while she was crowd-surfing, while numerous shows have been abandoned amid health-and-safety concerns).

They make it to the end of the show without major incident tonight, and thankfully so, because it’s a fantastic set. The pair take up their familiar positions: a hooded Ethan Kath sullenly standing stage-right and unleashing abrasive, piercing beats; Alice Glass tearing around like a woman possessed, sporadically jumping into the adoring crowd and even standing atop fans’ shoulders at certain points. Heard in the flesh, their music is every bit as confrontational as their personas are malevolent; indeed, the relentless strobing they utilise is almost quaint in comparison to their sound, which assails and violates the senses.

This physicality and eye-of-the-storm intensity is only enhanced by the fact that Glass and Kath have some serious tunes in their arsenal. The set isn’t as heavy on material from their second self-titled album as you might expect, although this does provide many of the highlights, from the epileptic spasms of ‘Doe Deer’ to dancefloor-slayer ‘Baptism’ and the shoegaze-tinged ‘Celestica’ (the latter benefiting from some added ghostly vocals tonight). Elsewhere, ‘Courtship Dating’, ‘Crimewave’ and ‘Air War’ already have the air of classics, and are rightfully greeted as such.

So much flak is thrown at the duo that you tend to forget just how great they are, in fact. Sure, they might have a reputation for being complete dickheads in person, but anyone who thinks that somehow takes away from a band’s musical merit should probably have a quick look back over the history of rock music. Without wanting to sound old and patronising, it’s noticeable how many kids are digging what Crystal Castles are doing, and consequently how much life there is in the crowd tonight when compared to the usual chin-stroking hordes. There’s an underlying sense of nihilism and danger to every aspect of Kath and Glass’s act, and if you were being fanciful you could trace a line back to The Sex Pistols, Suicide and any number of provocative, divisive acts of days gone by. Crystal Castles don’t care if you hate them, and you can’t help but love them for that.