“New Orleans! What the fuck is up?!” The opening line to Sleigh Bells sophomore release, Reign of Terror, rang perfectly at the House of Blues on Monday, October 15.

The pop noise band has been touring across America to promote this year’s album, and made room for Louisiana like they did in 2010 for their debut Treats. Doors opened at 7:30 p.m. at HOB, and people wasted no time filing in for the upcoming performance. The room stirred with excitement and anticipation for the rising star in the world of indie-smash music. However, the opening act didn’t really feed these emotions and served more as a white noise for the anxious crowd.

The opener Sumsun, an electronic artist, came onto the stage and introduced himself. He had a moment of back-and-forth with the audience about his hometown Florida and shared that his family is originally from New Orleans. Having that small moment of relating with the audience, he said with enthusiasm, “I’m gonna’ play some electronic for y’all!” And then there wasn’t another peep from him.

Don’t be mistaken, the music was pretty good in content. He gave professional grade sound with a nice composition and layering of sampled and original beats, and he produced a fairly decent climax that everyone looks for in electronica—but the man might as well have played a recorded track and walked off stage. There was no stage presence, no interaction with the audience, no reason to get excited about what was happening in front of you. There were a few audience members dancing along—mostly subtle and reserved—but everyone else seemed to be thinking, “okay, when is Sleigh Bells gonna’ start?” Fortunately, the lackluster performance came to a close, and the roadies began building the headliner’s set.

The first item that was placed on the stage was the massive Marshall stack consisting of 12 amps, complete with attached stage lights. This was it. There was going to be a lot of noise. At 10 on the dot, Derek E. Miller and touring guitarist, Jason Boyer, walked on the stage, followed by the queen-bee herself, Alexis Krauss. Decked out in a stunning, studded biker jacket, fishnets, ripped short-shorts, and layers upon layers of spiked cuffs, Sleigh Bells front woman set the mood immediately—it was time to get some blood on your pretty white Ked’s.

The hour that followed was a spectacle of lights, bass and the beautiful grunge goddess exploding with energy. Krauss is by far one of the best front-women our generation can claim. She transcended the music and the vocals through her wild dancing, energetic singing/screaming, and her physical presence within the audience. She made sure to interact with the crowd during and between every song by not only talking with us, reaching out to shake hands and thrusting the mic in our faces to sing along, but also by simply absorbing the ecstatic nature of their music and drowning every one of our senses with it.

Some of the most memorable moments included Krauss’ slower and more intimate version of “Born to Lose” with special dedication to one of her most favorite cities, New Orleans. She assured that the city had a very special place in her heart, and her genuine attitude made it so easy to believe it. She even showed off her fellow band mate’s specially-made New Orleans shirt worn just for the night’s show. The biggest explosion of the entire show was when Krauss, coming off the stage, told the audience, “you better put your hands up,” and crowd surfed. She stayed on top of the audience for much longer than your average crowd surf, allowing fans to touch her, shake her hands, take photos and climax with the show.

After that, Krauss blew the audience kisses and followed the other members off the stage. The audience stood in awe. Screaming and still jumping with energy, no one could say that they were disappointed. But, low and behold—it wasn’t over just yet! Sleigh Bells filed back on stage and gave the audience a three song encore as a nice little night cap. What an incredible night! Sleigh Bells merged noise pop and punk rock to a perfect mixture with stage lights and energy to match. Audience members left with Krauss’ last words ringing in their ears, “we’ll be back soon—I promise!” Well, that might have been their eardrums doing the actual ringing—but regardless, Sleigh Bells put on a show that would be impossible to forget.