Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the St James, Auckland

The sound O, and fellow band members Nick Zinner (left) and Brian Chase, produce is immense.

Karen O is down on her knees, back arched severely, the mic an arm's reach away from her mouth, and she's shrieking. It's only the first song from New York band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs but the singer is into it.

O (short for Orzolek) is hot - in a strange, kooky, part-Korean, part-Polish kind of way. She has a bowl haircut usually reserved for a primary school kid, and her outfit could be from her kindergarten days. On stage her moves combine Tai Chi, a little dominatrix, a few jumping jacks, some fist punching, and often she's on her knees at the front. She has a big presence and you could be mistaken for thinking the show is all about her. But it's not. The sound O, guitarist Nick Zinner, drummer Brian Chase and the unknown fourth member, produce, is immense.

Songs like Way Out, Honeybear and Cheated Hearts, from their new album, Show Your Bones, sum up how catchy the Yeahs' music is. But the great thing about them is how noisy, discordant, and intense they are, thanks to Zinner's abrasive and deft playing, and Chase's hard-hitting, yet poised, drumming.

The brooding Fancy (with O's wailing mantra "We read it, for three days" and Zinner's squealing serenade) and the sonic folk of Warrior (complete with a starry, starry night light show) are highlights.

It's these new songs that get preference tonight but the band don't neglect tracks from 2003's Fever To Tell - a slayer of an album. They even play Miles Away from their 2001 debut self-titled EP which sounds incredibly similar to Eye Of the Tiger from Rocky - only cooler, of course.

They don't say much in the 90-minute hour sell-out show but Zinner, an accomplished photographer, takes our photo and that's his way of saying thanks. And O blurting out "New Zealand mother [expletive] in the house," and "This song is about L.O.V.E. Love", is about all we get from her. But she doesn't have to say much because her delighted smiles say it all.

They take an age to come back for the encore but when they do it's Maps, from Fever To Tell, the song that turned them from art-rock idols into mainstream faves. Then, the frantic and searing Date With The Night is heart attack material and the best ear-bashing we're likely to get. It's definitely O for awesome.