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Nouvelle Vague, with Melanie Pain – Koko, London – 27/11/25

I didn’t really know what to expect, wandering alone into Camden’s Victorian theatre-turned-premier gig venue Koko, a few vodkas down with absolutely no working knowledge of bossa nova beyond a Dominic Miller riff and a naughty shimmy. The interior of Koko is gorgeous, renovated after a recent fire in a lusciousness of reclaimed brick and red-gold ornamentations, its walls lined with dimly lit balconies cascading from a domed roof. Surely there is no better venue to sway to Nouvelle Vague’s seductive reconstructions of the post-punk and the popular.

The show’s opening act was legendary Nouvelle alum Mélanie Pain, beginning the set with the typically French ‘La cigarette’. Pain sang with a half-whisper, each word delivered with an apt delicacy, accompanied by Jérôme Pichon’s acoustic guitar and a keyboard played by the singer herself. Under the cover of electric candlelight, she lulled the audience into a placid stupor with some particularly wonderful tracks from her latest affair, How and Why, easing them into what was to come next.

See, founding members Olivier Libaux and Marc Collin came upon a winning formula with Nouvelle Vague. Critics have sometimes called their studio efforts cloying, a tiresome adherence to a novelty that has outstayed its welcome and outlasted half of the New Wave bands it’s covered. But their live shows – or, at least, the one I saw at Koko – exhibit no hint of turning stale.

There is an intrigue in trying to figure out which song is being covered, piecing together opening lines like newspaper clippings for a ransom letter; an exhilaration in watching singers Marine Quemere & Shanice Sloan swagger and saunter across the stage, their voices lifted by a band of very talented, passionate and often smirking musicians; and an obvious jubilation in dancing to the variety of samba beats on which Nouvelle Vague’s songs ride.

Who doesn’t want to hear a knees-up ska-ified ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go’, or a slowed-down, sexed-up version of ‘Girls On Film’? Simply, the songs you love have been curated and transformed into a near-perfect setlist, giving equal time to brood or boogie. Would I choose to listen to these covers over the originals? Not necessarily. Would I see Nouvelle Vague in concert again? Even if I was stuck for a few songs behind a lady who danced like she was on ecstasy and attempted to rally others into it like she was on commission? Absolutely.

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