On Thursday I was lucky enough to go and see one of my favourite bands play live. Having already seen them once 18 months ago, before the release of last years astonishing and critically lauded Halcyon Digest, I knew what to expect and I was genuinely excited. Thankfully I wasn’t let down.
The support came from Lower Dens, a good band who sounded – to my ears at least – like Cryptograms-era Deerhunter. Typically the crowd didn’t get too involved; the most people stretched to was a polite nodding of their heads. It should be noted that many of those heads were balding or already bald, as the Atlanta band, like a lot of music I seem to listen to, attract a very diverse crowd. Age-wise, anyway. Towards the back end of their set, the place really started to fill up and my position near the stairs became more and more moronic.
When Deerhunter finally took to the stage, with their own newfound brand of phlegmatic calm, it was up to affable front man Bradford Cox to do all the talking – and rocking. Guitarist Lockett Pundt and the other members are never ones to go too mental; they just play, trance-like, as befits the tight live band they have evolved into. They started with a new track, ‘60 Cycle Hum’, which they recently played live on the BBC, but it somehow failed to get the crowd going as much as I anticipated.
Second track, the Lockett-led ‘Desire Lines’, really upped the tempo and was one of the highlights. It seamlessly blended two of Deerhunter’s defining characteristics: the love of pop melody and the tendency to veer towards murkier jams. The set also consisted of two songs from Cryptograms, ‘Hazel St.’ and set-closer ‘Octet’, which married well with the rest of their more recent material.
Another highlight was my favourite track from Halcyon, ‘Helicopter’, whose cathartic line: “No one cares for me…” really got the crowd going. But this audience was not entirely for moving: the ponytailed fans certainly remembered My Bloody Valentine the first time round and definitely liked swaying.
Microcastle highlights, ‘Little Kids’ and ‘Nothing Ever Happened’ were performed with as much aplomb as the last time I saw them, but it was the rendition of ‘Cover Me/Agoraphobia’ in the encore that got people most excited. I, for one, loved it all. They really are one of the very best bands around; Halcyon Digest and Microcastle are undoubtedly too of the best albums of recent times; and they are a compelling live presence – dress and fake blood or not. The lack of crowd interaction may put some of the harder rockers off, but listen a bit harder and you’ll be richly rewarded.
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