CHAMELEONS @ ELECTRIC BALLROOM, LONDON

With their first tour of new material in over two decades, Chameleons have been promoting their ‘Arctic Moon’ studio album in the US and UK/Europe, finally being able to play new songs alongside their nostalgic staples. They opened their set on their last EP eponymous title track which also features on the new album as a refreshed, recorded version – ‘Where Are You?’ with woody guitar and cymbal crashes soothing into combs of post-punk guitar. They then performed new song ‘Lady Strange’; a strong track on the album, its jangly melodies caramelise the Chameleons trademark sound with a moody finish.

Frontman Vox also played the new song that he said saved his life, ‘David Bowie Takes My Hand’; the slow ascent into psychedelic strings saw his raw emotion come out in the lyrics making it highly sentimental to watch. He then unequivocally declared, “Follow no one: lead yourself; I am an anarchist – I know what I want and I know how to get it,” before launching into the Trump themed ‘Saviours are a Dangerous Thing’, with asymmetric drum patterns and vibrato guitar ending. One of the band’s best songs from their 1986 ‘Strange Times’ album, ‘Soul in Isolation’, followed with blast-force reverberating drums, Vox changing the lyrical script slightly and including vocal samples such as The Beatles’ ‘Eleanor Rigby’ amongst droplets of guitar gems.

Then continuing with the same album, the echoing, hopping riffs of ‘Swamp Thing’ filtered through; with guttural stripped down percussive and highly acidic streaks of keyboard – it sounded fresher than ever before. Theming on the current strange times and end of the world, apocalyptic scenario, Vox ended the main set on another new song, ‘Feels like the End of the World’: a lyrically comic folk rhyme with a spoken word interjection. For the encore, Chameleons focussed on their 1983 debut album, ‘Script of the Bridge’, playing ‘In Shreds’, ‘Second Skin’ and ‘Don’t Fall’ in succession with the audience in free-flow engagement. Utterly magical, well produced and simply one of the greatest shows this year.

14/11/25: Chameleons @ Electric Ballroom, London.