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ACL Festival Review: Death From Above 1979
I imagine that in the years to come, when people talk about Death From Above 1979’s 2011 reunion performances in Austin, they’ll tend to remember either Saturday night’s aftershow at Emo’s or the South by Southwest gig at the Beauty Bar. Both were particularly memorable for their own reasons - the aftershow for closing out Emo’s outside room with a minimal amount of advance notice and drama, and the SXSW set for the mayhem that erupted when fans tore down the fence trying to see the band.
But I hope that DFA1979’s set at the Austin City Limits Festival is equally spoken of, because the Toronto dance punk duo - light on the dance, very heavy on the punk - oversaw an hour of controlled chaos Sunday that did note-perfect justice to their thrashing, thrilling songs. It’s easy to be cynical about the excitement that’s greeted DFA1979’s reunion - after all, the band’s only about ten years old and only broke up in 2006 - but seeing them dust off the songs from lone LP “You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine” could make a true believer of anyone.
“You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine” first track “Turn It Out” was also the first song of the show, setting a tone and intensity right from the first minute that wouldn’t waver through nearly an hour. The appearance of Jesse Keeler (on bass, synth and backing vocals) and Sebastian Grainger (on vocals and drums) kicked off a maelstrom of thrown arms close to the stage that wouldn’t let up, and Keeler in particular was flailing like a rag doll caught in the jaws of a Doberman. Grainger’s caustic scream hasn’t lost any intensity in the last five years; second song “Dead Womb” could have shattered glass and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a more unearthly yell than the monster Grainger released at the end of “Black History Month.”
This was a set that was short on peaks and valleys or ups and downs; if DFA1979 were a mountain it would be all summit. The duo’s not really about variety; they’re principally about intensity, and they managed to keep it up through the whole show, packing in loads of songs, Grainger always pounding and howling with the best of them and Keeler a blur. More than anything else the audience told the story; it was young, unbridled, sweaty and crowd-surfing. I saw people walking away at the end of the show with smiles as broad as the Atlantic.
“You guys have been seeing bands all day and you’re still not tired of seeing bands?” asked Grainger after a typically shattering “Go Home, Get Down.” “You guys are, what is it, sadists or masochists or something?”
Maybe. But it felt so good.
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By Lord Kalvin
September 20, 2011 4:25 AM | Link to this
It was NUTS! ****’ NUTS!! DFA1979 is my ALL TIME fave band, so I was elated that they were coming to TX AGAIN, (I missed SXSW). I drove from Houston, just to see them. IT was everything I hoped for, and more. I was at the very front on the barricade being crushed by the weight of the thousands behind me. I’ve never been so insanely hot and drenched in sweat not my own, in my entire life. I felt like passing out several times, but I refused to stop rocking. Their show, was the greatest hour of 2011. And this is coming from a guy that’s had a few threesomes this year.