OK Go are a Californian quartet better known for their quirky visuals than their pleasant indie pop. In 2005 a DIY video featuring the band doing a daft dance routine in their backyard was a huge internet hit. The following year, OK Go became YouTube’s most viewed band and recipients of a Grammy Award thanks to a similar video shot on a treadmill for the song Here It Goes Again.
On tour to promote their imminent third album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, OK Go revealed a funky Prince-inspired new sound but, true to form, it was their inventive visuals that overshadowed the songs. From a confetti cannon that erupted from the drum kit at regular intervals to illuminated fur-trimmed guitars shooting lasers and jackets with LED screens sewn in the back, the show was a visual treat. Even a simple trick such as placing a camera on the singer Damian Kulash’s microphone — so an oddly angled close-up of his handsome face filled the screen behind him — was stunningly effective.
Stripped of the gimmicks, however, OK Go proved rather bland as a band. Which is odd because they tick plenty of rock star boxes. Kulash is a fabulous frontman — confident enough to insult the crowd, so good-looking that teenage girls screamed that they loved him, and sufficiently cool to pull off clich?d legs-apart poses. All four were smartly dressed in black suits and clearly musically gifted. The show’s most memorable moment involved them performing a song entirely on hand bells, frantically switching among two dozen of them of various sizes at a table.
OK Go’s problem is partly that they lack a distinctive sound, mostly that their songs are fun but forgettable. Get Over It and A Million Ways were snappy, exuberant indie, but hard to hum back. For much of the set, OK Go recalled one of those polished, pretend college bands that used to feature in glossy 1980s teen movies.
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The good news was that their best songs came from the new album, notably the sparse, Sign O’ the Times-style WTF? and the chaotic, percussive pop of Back from Kathmandu. The bad news was that they didn’t do their famous dance moves. OK Go have moved on, but whether their fans will be happy is another matter.
Tour continues: O2 Academy, Sheffield, tomorrow; O2 Academy, Liverpool, Sun; O2 ABC, Glasgow, Mon