This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I don’t have much patience with bands who sound great on record and then fail to bring it home live. Luckily, having earnt their chops by playing hundreds of gigs before they even made their first record, Brighton-based dynamic duo Blood Red Shoes are in no danger of that. Returning to Zurich for the second time this year on Monday evening, they rocked out hard, loud and fabulously.

Belgian support band Wallace Vanborn play a good solid rock set, two beefy blokes throwing themselves and their droplets of sweat around the front of the stage, while their drummer worked up a frenzy in the back.

Blood Red Shoes start off their set with ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea‘, fresh from its inclusion in the Scott Pilgrim vs The World soundtrack, and follow up with the Twin Peaks-inspired ‘It Is Happening Again‘. In a Madonna t-shirt, black stockings and denim shorts, Laura-Mary Carter looks as if a strong gust of wind might blow her over, but she is anything but fragile, reminiscent of a somewhat less strident PJ Harvey. Steven Ansell fairly crackles with a precocious energy, blonde curls flying, veins bulging as he bashes the shit out of his drum kit, and sings (must be hell on the neck muscles), the perfect foil to Laura-Mary’s quiet concentration.

‘Light It Up’ (re-released as a single on the day of the gig) prompts a crowd sing-along, while the shouty punk of ‘You Bring Me Down‘ prompts some mass pogoing. ‘When We Wake’ is beautiful and clear, building to a triumphant end, and shouts from an love-struck fan of ‘Laura, I love you!’. By the time they get to ‘Doesn’t Matter Much’ the crowd is joyfully jumping around – this from a usually staid Zurich crowd! – and we get a rare shy smile or two from Laura-Mary. A vociferous ‘Heartsink’ finishes the set. Coming back for the encore, they burn on through ‘One More Empty Chair’, before closing with an intense, guitar-driven ‘Colours Fade’.

Despite the fact that it is just the two of them on stage, they make a fantastic racket, with Steven performing amazing feats of human coordination by simultaneously drumming, singing and egging the crowd on to every-greater heights of pogoing giddiness. It’s my first time seeing the dynamic duo, so I’m mightily impressed. They are often asked whether they would ever add any other people to the band, but an extra person would probably just change the strange but wonderful alchemy they have together. What they have works just perfectly.

Setlist: It’s Getting Boring By The Sea/It is Happening Again/Light It Up/You Bring Me Down/Count Me Out/When We Wake/Say Something, Say Anything/Don’t Ask/This Is Not For You/Keeping It Close/I Wish I Was Someone Better/Doesn’t Matter Much/Heartsink Encore: ?/One More Empty Chair/Colours Fade

Stay tuned for my interview with Steven sometime next week.

Blood Red Shoes play a few more shows in Germany and France, before ending the tour in Brighton, UK on 08.12.10

Fire Like This is out now on V2 Records.