The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Meltdown Festival: Deerhoof at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Meltdown Festival: Deerhoof at the Queen Elizabeth Hall | Live review
22 June 2013
Francis Davies
Avatar
Francis Davies
22 June 2013

On the first day of summer Deerhoof brought their unique style of sonic pandemonium to the Southbank’s prestigious Queen Elizabeth Hall for the Meltdown festival. Ironically, the choice of venue did more to disrupt the show than the band ever could.

How does a person go about describing a band like Deerhoof? They started out sounding like a very traditional, very standard rock gig. Then things exploded. There was noise, chaos and discord. This became a theme: Deerhoof are one of those acts that you can’t anticipate. They do what they do and you just go with it. One minute the tracks could sound as jazzy as We Do Parties and then suddenly switch into tuneful discordant insanity. By the third song the drummer, Greg Saunier, possibly the most unhinged of the group, appeared to have broken his cymbal. 

While the music was clear, Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals, though tuneful, ran together into a mostly indecipherable mess. As one example, Panda lost most of its clarity through the microphone and during tracks like Breakup Songs the instruments and synths mostly drowned her out. The problems cleared up slightly at the end, but it was too little too late. It’s hard to know whether the issues were due to technical or human error. 

Queen Elizabeth Hall is cavernous with tiered rows and numbered seats. It’s an impressive venue and undoubtedly a prestige point for any artist playing it. That same class also worked to undermine the entire gig. Seating doesn’t work for rock shows. You need to be on your feet. You can’t get the same energy or produce the same chaos from songs like Sealed with a Kiss if the audience is static. It was apparent the entire way through: people obviously wanted a floorspace. 

Strongly wanted by the festival’s curator Yoko Ono, Deerhoof were great. Their set was unpredictable, filled with insanity, even between songs, and good fun if you could get around the avant-garde nature of their act. The vocals were a problem and the passive-audience nature of the venue didn’t do them justice. 

Oh, and they had an encore. It involved madness and Basketball.

★★★★★

Francis Davies
Photos: Alberto Martínez Bracero

For further information and future events visit Deerhoof’s website here. 

Watch the video for Secret Mobilization here:

Related Itemslive musicreview

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Schemers
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Away: An interview with animator Gints Zilbalodis
    Interviews
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Strypes at Islington Academy | Live review
Flow Forms at Spitalfields Music Summer Festival | Live review