Returning back nearly a year to the day of their last London show, Canadian alt rock duo Death From Above 1979 continue to roll out all the heavy hitters, in this extended celebration tour for the twentieth anniversary of their debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. This time supported by the likes of Mancunian electro-rock trio YAANG, the floor of Camden’s Electric Ballroom was primed for dancers and crowd surfers alike.
YAANG
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Even with the fairly early time schedule and Sunday transport to navigate, the venue was filled with excited energy and enthusiastic support from the get go, an atmosphere that YAANG were clearly energised by, as well as modestly appreciative of.
The trio brought their infectiously enjoyable combination of sleazy dance fuelled electronica along with highly energetic, guitar driven rhythms, radiating similarities from acts such as The Hives, Warmduscher and Viagra Boys, while maintaining a fresh individuality and likely casting a net over some more fans throughout their set.
With their drum machine loaded and ready, the group’s vocalist Davey Moore channeled the kaleidoscopic array of genres like an orchestra conductor, complete with freeze frame antics, acrobatic jumps and a hip driven swagger that would rival Mick Jagger in his heyday. The set itself showcased a variety of singles to us listeners new and old, such as ‘I’m A Leech’ and ‘Airport Barfight’, as well as tracks from their latest EP No (most notably ‘Speed McQueen’). As the final guitar chugs of ‘Horsepower Is God’ drew the set to a close, the room began to buzz with anticipation for even bigger riffs.
Death From Above 1979
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With an audience fully warmed up and ready to see the weekend out the right way, our headliners Death from Above take the stage to rapturous applause and cheers.
The introductory piano chords to their album opener ‘Turn It Out’ begin to ring out; queuing up bassist Jesse F. Keeler to screech out with his trademark distorted harmonic siren scrapes. Under the gaze of hammering blue strobes, singer and drummer Sebastien Grainger sets the pace with his pummelling beats and soaring, reverberating vocals, sending the front of the crowd into a leaping frenzy.
The expected hit single ‘Romantic Rights’ appeared remarkably early on, leaving plenty of room for other career spanning floor fillers to make an appearance, and setting the pace for the rest of the evening. The energy only continued to grow as fan favourites continued to be recognised, joined by a level of vocal crowd participation usually reserved for early Arctic Monkeys tracks and ‘Seven Nation Army’. Of course when the riffs are this catchy, you would be amiss to not football chant along.
Despite the emphasis on songs from their debut, set features from their sophomore release The Physical World, to even the latest record Is 4 Lovers were received with an equal level of enthusiasm and appreciation. Tracks like ‘Freeze Me’, ‘Trainwreck 1979’ and ‘Right On, Frankenstein!’ fired the crowd up into a sea of pogoing mosh pits without fail, getting the “real fan” seal of approval from Grainger.
With a furiously punky encore of ‘Dead Womb’ (from the EP Heads Up) and ‘Pull Out’, Death From Above 1979 served us a reminder that even with just two instruments, their reputation would leave the audiences crowd surfing long after the curtain has been called.