Death From Above 1979 at Electric Ballroom

There seems to be a flurry of top quality two-piece bands at the moment: Royal Blood, The Black Keys, The Kills. But no one does it quite as loud, dirty and groovy as Death From Above 1979. This band from Canada made such a huge impact with their debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine until they split up for personal reasons – one supposes the trials of going on non-stop tours with only one other person can really take its toll.

But here we are, eight years later, touring one of the best albums of 2014 (The Physical World), and they certainly haven’t softened up. There’s so much power and drive with this band, it’s unbelievable how much sound comes out of the two of them. 

They played an even amount of material from their debut, such as Turn It Out, Going Steady, and Romantic Rights, with lots of their follow up album, including Crystal Ball and Government Trash. There was no sombre atmosphere from the crowd, no matter what they played. On form tonight, each song was played with veracity and strength. This new album plays well live, as well as on record. 

New tracks like Gemini and Right On, Frankenstein! were clear favourites for the crowd to lose their marbles over. There just was something so fresh, exciting and raw about DFA1979’s performance tonight, as if they remembered the reason why they started this in the first place. And we’re all so pleased they’re back doing what they love.

It was in the moment when they dropped in their new single Trainwreck, where everyone was going nuts together, that you knew: this band can go as far as they want to.

Adam Bennett
Photos: Adam Bennett

For further information about Death From Above 1979 and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Trainwreck here: