Photograph by Sean Chin (2015).
I began to listen to Diiv about 3 years ago, in which I really enjoyed their music. My first time seeing them was at Timefest in 2015. I remember being so excited to finally hear them live and see what they can bring to the table in terms of live performances, because I loved their album “Oshin” so much. When I finally saw them, I was feeling kind of underwhelmed. I remember thinking to myself, “Oh, that’s it? This is Diiv?”. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy their performance, but I didn’t feel that it was exactly spectacular or memorable; I also didn’t know if I would pay to see them again, I thought maybe. Following this, they released their follow up album “Is the Is Are” in 2016. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the album, but I can’t say that it was anything astounding. It grew on me more and more, but I couldn’t stop thinking about that disappointing live performance.
I found out they were touring and coming to Velvet Underground in Toronto, in which I decided to attend. I wondered what a headlining show of theirs would be like. I went into the show wondering if I was going to leave feeling that same disappointment, or if this would again be your average mediocre psych-rock show. Then, they blew me away. This show was extremely lively and amusing, and everybody was having such a fun time. There were some tech issues throughout the evening and I can’t say I was a fan of how Zach Smith handled the issues as he kept saying the repetitive buzzing noise was making him want to kill himself but otherwise, they put on an awesome show.
The set was about 2 hours long, and it honestly felt like they were just putting on a band practice and hanging out with everyone. The set consisted of their new material, and whatever the audience requested. It created such an organic feeling when I realized majority of the set would be whatever the audience wanted- and so many people loved the fact that they wanted to play whatever the people wanted. They also played right up until they were told to end the set, which was so awesome to see them so willing to play for however long.
They perpetuated such a loud, crisp, and clear sound. Acoustics and Bass sounded flawless, and vocals were done well to the tracks as well. If I recall correctly, vocals were not all that great back in Summer of 2015 however, Smith’s vocals came through clutch at the Velvet Underground. The pit was active, and even outside of the pit everyone was dancing and having a great time. Before each song Smith would sometimes give back stories behind them adding a personal touch, for instance he told the audience how Healthy Moon was about realizing how many people you have really hurt, followed by an extended interlude which may have been the best performance throughout the entire show.
The show was nothing less than epic, and they have really finally developed an image for themselves. Back in the Summer of 2015 it seemed as they were still unsure of who they were, but now it doesn’t even seem questionable. All I can say is that this show was a true display of how far they have come, hearing most of their new album live made me like it so much more, and I cannot wait to stage Diiv again at the next show.
