Rock-lover Jason Collie celebrates a musical milestone in the company of a hard-rocking bunch of party-starters

Alkaline Trio @ O2 Academy Islington

As the O2 Academy Oxford gets ready to celebrate its sixth anniversary (my, how time flies!), its sister venue in north London is marking its first decade.

And what better way to kick off the 10th birthday party than with a show by one of the hottest bands of the moment?

Stars of Reading Festival, just days before, Alkaline Trio closed out their European tour in barnstorming fashion, and showed no signs of legginess.

At Reading, due to the familiar festival timing issues, the post punk three-piece had been forced to blast through a stripped-down set of 45 minutes. It was crackingly fast but at Islington they were able to take their time a bit. Well, just a bit.

Last year Alkaline Trio played Camden and it was a decent gig. They weren’t going through the motions but there was a feeling they were playing within themselves.

This time around though, at both Reading and Islington, there was far more energy. Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano may dominate up front but they were really driven on by the power beat from drummer Derek Grant behind.

Alkaline Trio, from Chicago, were the first band to play Islington when it opened, so the stars of touring schedules aligned somewhat for the venue to book them for their birthday celebrations.

The setlist was pretty much the same as Reading, just with additional songs fitted in due to not having a ridiculous time constraint.

Before a committed and sold-out crowd, they canvassed their entire catalogue, book-ending it with solid fan favourites Radio and Private Eye.

They were tight and fast-paced. Their inclusion of four songs from their new album, My Shame Is True, went down well, particularly the first single I Wanna Be A Warhol.

But a real highpoint, personally, was the inclusion of the not-often-played Sadie. An ode to one of the Manson gang, this song is the perfect showcase of Alkaline Trio’s unique talent: brutal and bleak subject matter within a punk song that is somehow almost tender in rendition.

This Could Be Love closed out the main set before the encores and was predictably well-received.

The only disappointment was my own pondering that why was my own 10th birthday present — some sci-fi spaceship — not this cool?