Photographs by Sean Chin.
Pairing up New York duo Phantogram with resurrected Toronto dance-punks Death From Above 1979 was ambitious in nature, but maybe not so practical in reality. A European crowd might be more receptive to the contrasting sounds, but whoever put these two together should be applauded for the attempt to expand rigid tastes.
Billed together at the remote and cavernous Sound Academy Friday night as part of the Edge’s Jingle Bell Rock Series, where $1 from every ticket sold donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank.
I caught Phantogram at this year’s Osheaga Festival in Montreal and while I had never heard them before that day, their daylight performance was compelling enough to pick up their second album released earlier this year, Voices.
The band sounded great, filling the whole room with sound. They definitely benefitted from the right mix of lighting to emphasize the drama of their songs, but from my vantage point seemed to fall on uninterested ears. This could be due to the venue itself, where unless you are in the front third of the room you are having a very different experience.
The first time I saw DFA1979 was 2003 at the Opera House opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had one of those rare concert experiences that left my jaw on the floor and happy ears. They were like riding a thrilling rollercoaster, minus the slow parts.
Since that night, the duo released one solid album that took them all over their world, split up and then returned from some reunion shows that culminated in the release this year of their second album, The Physical World. Their sophomore album doesn’t skip a beat from the debut, maintaining the youthful energy from a decade ago.
But the band on record and live on stage are almost two different beasts. A record you have some control over, but DFA1979 live is a furious pummeling beast, with no let up until the house lights come back up. It is what so excited me eleven years ago, and the years haven’t seen them lose any of their bite.
Opening with “Turn It Out”, the boys hammered the crowd with all of The Physical World, mixed with a good chunk of their debut. No need for frills with these guys. Aside from Christmas-looking lights illuminating their trademark nose logo, the duo relied on crushing bass and furious drums to submit this crowd. Guys resigned to losing their shirts up at the front while towards the back deflated boys submitted to girlfriends not interested in crushing their craniums on a Friday night.
The guys themselves largely let the music talk for itself, mentioning the heat on stage more than once and the crowd shook out the winter blah’s with dancing that grew more intense the closer to the stage you got. Of course the debut’s songs got the loudest approval; “Romantic Rights”, “You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine” and their Head’s Up EP’s “Dead Womb”, but tracks from their latest are also worthy additions to their live canon, especially “Trainwreck 1979” and “Cheap Trick”.
Whether this canon continues to grow remains to be seen but going by the sweaty spent faces at the end of the night, the crowd will willingly accept another fresh opportunity for the next thrilling ride.