It's the middle of the Dead Weather's three London shows, and Spinner's first thought is -- let's hope the band's earplugs are made of stern stuff. Jack White and Alison Mosshart's side project might be inspired by the sounds of the blues delta, but volume-wise it's like out-takes from a rocket testing range.

'It Might Get Loud' is the name of the film where Jack White, Jimmy Page and the Edge trade war stories over frets and amps. 'It Might Ruin Your Hearing for a Week ' is surely the subtitle the Weather could use on posters, if tonight's anything to go by.

Mosshart told Spinner in an interview last week that she still has to pinch herself that the whole project isn't a dream. The Dead Weather's punishing blues-rock was meant as a one-off indulgence and has turned into a proper band, one preparing for album number two less than a year after the release of 'Horehound.' They're a very real band, aided by Dean Fertita and the Raconteurs' Jack Lawrence.

Tonight, Mosshart wriggles around the Forum stage like a stick-thin apparition, screeching, wailing, writhing, as she trades vocals with a drum kit-thumping White. Even though he's behind the kit for a goodly portion of the set, the spotlight rarely moves from him. He's a brutal, accomplished drummer, screaming vocal parts like Frank Black's little brother, and the whoops and roars from the crowd when he strides out confirm his charismatic power. White may play blues, but it's like Jonny Greenwood playing it – warped, distorted and spine-tingling.

The band have been playing a clutch of songs from the soon-to-be released new album since their American dates in the summer. But tonight it's 'I Cut Like a Buffalo' that takes pride of place in their bruising portfolio, before an encore launched with 'Treat Me Like Your Mother,' filled with more menace and sexual tension than most bands manage to deliver in a career.