Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

The venue, the Old Vic Tunnels, isn't the easiest place to find – there are discrete steps on the far side of Waterloo station, with colourfully graffiti-ed subways leading to the entrance for this maze of tunnels underneath the station. Tonight Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros are playing the first of five consecutive nights here; the LA band have been developing a reputation for their live shows being more of an experience than a gig, so expectations are high.

I'm greeted by Martians on the way in and given a sort of entry interview – "did you pack your own bag?", "what's your ethnic origin colour? – black, white, pearlescent, green, purple" etc, then 'scanned' with a spinning neon-lit device, have a flying saucer (of the confectionary variety!) popped in to my mouth and given a dodgy-looking substance wrapped in clingfilm by an equally-dodgy looking cowboy (I think on close inspection it's an innocuous liquorice sweet). The tunnel spaces have been kitted out for this series of shows with art installations and the whole place has the vibe of a mini-festival with a party atmosphere. There's a giant red orb which could be Mars in one space, a beautiful moon suspended in another, and the Texas Tavern tucked away around the corner with some portrait drawing going on nearby.

In the main space, there are two stages with a room next to the smaller stage streaming video footage on to one wall, with a headdress hanging from the ceiling with headphones attached for participants to wear whilst they watch the images. A guy with a great voice and playing slide guitar has pulled a crowd around the smaller stage. Some 'Day of the Dead' type characters are drawing attention to themselves next to the bar by carrying a coffin aloft and hollering about the Sun God. Back in the main venue, two acrobats cavort on suspended ropes to banjo music. A touch too much realism is added to the festival experience by the portaloos occupying the farthest space, which apparently punters were rocking for fun, yikes!

People start to gather at the main stage as the headliners are due on at 10. The frontman, Alex Ebert, appears after half an hour to introduce 'mentalist', Lior Suchard, to entertain the audience. He's a mind-reader in the Derren Brown vein, and although impressive, has an extremely hard time to keep people's attention as we're, by now, impatient to see the main act. The mentalist is maybe one cabaret act too far.

Finally, the indie-folk collective which is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros hits the stage nearly 40 minutes late, opening the set with '40 Day Dream'. The crowd responds immediately to the sounds, which are more melodic and less edgy than I was expecting, with lots of bouncing, dancing and happy faces, probably helped by the festival vibe and long drinking time. The music is exuberant, folk-rock with guitars, keys, drums and percussion, trumpet, harmonica and accordion. Tambourines are wielded enthusiastically by the frenetic and charismatic lead singer. Ebert looks a bit wild-eyed; bearded with his long hair scooped and pinned up and wearing a long thermal granddad shirt over trousers, he looks like a slightly deranged biblical prophet. He even comes across a bit Jim Morrison in one of the songs where the music is more subdued and his voice to the fore. Ebert shares lead vocals with Jade Castrinos and there's a chorus of backing vocals from the other musicians - I count at least six others on stage, though there may be more, the place is so rammed and, being vertically challenged, I can't see much. The guitarist Christian Letts takes lead vocals for one of his own songs which has an almost hoedown feel.

The in-between-song banter from Ebert is charmingly obscure, and during one song he rambles that after deciding there was no god, thought "fuck it, I wanna be stupid again, I wanna have magic again" so, if I'm hearing correctly, he decided he was immortal - "not that I think it's true, it's just more fun to believe and gives you a kind of swagger."

They play their best-known song, 'Home', towards the end of the set, accompanied by a hearty crowd singalong. The song typifies the communal party energy that the band creates, a sort of back to the '60s, trippy hippy vibe with massive feel-good factor. The last song of the night is a chaotic, jubilant 'Om Nashi Me' and there's a huge (and encouraged!) stage invasion. By now a lot of people are leaving, like myself, to catch trains home; shame about the late start but I have to say they were well worth the wait.

FUTURE GIGS

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