Patti Smith, The Ramones, The Velvet Underground - and The Kills, apparently.

Projecting footage of iconic musicians as a backdrop to a gig is a bold decision - is it homage or self-ranking? With The Kills these things are never clear.

Since they slouched nonchalantly onto the music scene in 2003 with their stunning debut Keep On Your Mean Side, the art-punk duo have worked a too-cool-for-school image.

But their rock 'n' roll craziness is so perfectly, familiarly honed, it's clear they have been studying pretty hard behind the scenes. As Alison Mosshart sings on new single Cheap And Cheerful: "I want you to be crazy 'cos you're boring baby when you're straight."

Whether borne of pretension or lack of imagination, it's irritating because it detracts from their music, which is almost consistently excellent.

Early tracks such as Kissy Kissy and the gorgeously raw, simplistic Fried My Little Brains got the best response from the audience, but material from new album Midnight Boom proved more than a match for it.

It's not the garage-blues of yore but, despite the trip-hop beats, it thankfully has more in common with their original sound than second album No Wow.

The Kills aren't Patti Smith or The Ramones or The Velvet Underground, but if they stopped trying to be, they could be legends in their own right.