6th May 2011
Noisey/Dance Punk duo Death From Above 1979 are back!
After a 5 year hiatus, tonight was the night of the long awaited (and unexpected) return to the live circuit for the first of their two night stand in the Kentish town Forum. From the doors opening, a stampede of eager fans bulked out the venue giving a great chance for a support band to make a name for themselves.
After missing out on Young Legionnaire, we squeezed ourselves in to catch the second act Jamaica. This electro guitar band’s melodies few and far between, they lacked any bass slapping gusto or dance fever to ignite their tunes. It was really very ordinary and failed to make even the slightest impression on our resident dance muso The Docktor. An opportunity well and truly spurned.
Jamaica
As the moment of arrival drew ever closer, so did the crowd…intimate is not a word I would usually associate with The Forum, but tonight you could barely move. Cue the smoke machines and madness ensued as those first distinctive Death From Above 1979 fuzzy bass lines were pummeled through our collective consciousness. Not that i could see anything mind you. In fact the crowd were torn in two, those wanting to get closer and those wanting to get away! With this in mind the enjoyment factor plummeted rapidly as small riots ensued and flailing arms met with chins while shoulders met with spines. Altogether an unpleasant experience (or I’m getting old)!
Death From Above 1979
It is no wonder then that I retreated to the relative safety of the first elevated tier to watch the rest of the set, yet I could still barely see them through the plumes of smoke. Somehow the monstrous bass and furious drumming was much louder in my expectations! They felt rather underpowered for a band who thrive on being louder than a jet engine at 20 paces. Certainly this was not the experience I had hoped for. Maybe it was wrong of me to heap so much promise on the show, what else would you expect if you hadn’t played for 5 years and only ever released one full LP clocking in at less than 40 minutes? They were most definitely road rusty.
Whether their decision to return was for artistic or personal or cough…cough…cash! It was clear that half the crowd loved every minute, while the others simply nodded along with a smug grim spelling out I.W.A.S.T.H.E.R.E.
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