Simulated thunderstorms and sock slides on stage: Khruangbin are ready for the Grammy's

Fans were left mystified earlier this month, when Khruangbin was handed a Grammy’s nomination for ‘Best New Artist’.

That’s not because the Texas-hailing psychedelic funk rock band doesn't deserve it. It’s because the genre-defying trio has already been touring for 14 years.

Yet the Grammy-worthy performance at O2 Apollo Manchester last night left no doubt as to how the band has finally caught the attention of prize givers this year.

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On the last stretch of their new album tour A LA SALA, the band delivered a spellbinding performance that took a jam-packed Apollo on a journey through all the moods and modulations of the band’s last decade.

The gig started with drama. Three figures appeared on stage, silhouetted against arch-shaped windows illuminated in blue.

As the lights gradually brightened, simulating a sunrise, bass guitarist Laura Lee Ochoa and guitarist Mark Speer launched into the laconic and dreamy riffs of A LA SALA’s opening song Fifteen Fifty-Three.

The stage featured a white, asymmetrical staircase. And Ochoa and Speer moved slowly up and down the steps in slow, cat-like movements, synchronising when their melodies echoed each other, and moving apart when they flitted off into jazz and soul inspired detours.

Despite the hypnotic performance as they performed most of their newest album, the magic of Khruangbin (it means airplane in Thai) lies in their music’s ability to transport the audience elsewhere. A LA SALA especially feels like you’re witnessing audio-visual hallucinations (even while 100 percent sober), or a repeating sentence in a dream drawled out slowly by a well-travelled Texan.

But occasionally, action on stage draws you back into the present moment. Ochoa, once described as ‘fashion-forward’ by Vanity Fair, struck a powerful figure in a short Lolita dress paired with wide-legged black trousers.

She was effortlessly magnetising, kicking her leg up to head-height, yoga-style, or sliding across a step on the staircase in socks, all without missing a beat of Khruangbin’s (rather complex) music.

Things took a theatrical turn halfway through the show, when the three windows at the back left of the stage simulated a thunderstorm and the three musicians were left straining against the ever-increasing sound of lightning strikes and rain drumming against window panes.

Disappearing off stage, as if giving in to the weather, the audience was left in a cloud of fog and suspense for a painfully long moment.

But the band did return, delivering another 45 minute set that charted through their most famous tracks from their other studio albums. The second half amped up the energy considerably, with the entire seated upper ring eventually compelled to their feet to dance.

The band barely uttered a word to the audience for the entire set - Ochoa first addressed the audience with “Hello Manchester” halfway through the encore - but still the message was clear: Khruangbin are more than ready for the Grammy’s next year.

The band will play another gig at the O2 Appollo tonight, November 18, before moving on to London and Dublin for their final shows of their Europe tour.