DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 at Sound Academy, Thursday, October 27. Rating: NNNN
Death From Above 1979 are a living example of how far one album can take you.
The Toronto noise-punk duo called it quits in 2006 after a big-ticket arena tour opening for Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age, claiming the only time they talked to each other was during interviews and right before shows. Besides, they said, they had taken their ideal as far as it could go, playing music meant for dirty rock clubs on some of the biggest stages in the continent. All this on the strength of their lone LP, 2004’s You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine.
But by burning out rather than fading away, the band only increased its reputation, their riotous live shows preserved as the stuff of rock and roll mythology.
Five years later, the band’s unlikely reunion has brought them near the top of the bill of practically every big summer music festival and, at their long-awaited Toronto return last night, to their biggest ever headlining hometown crowd.
Fans were packed elbow-to-elbow at the usually-spacious Sound Academy for the first of their two sold-out gigs. Toronto audiences are often accused of arms-crossed apathy at shows, but from the midst of the crowd it was literally impossible to stand still. It was the kind of sardine-packing that made note-taking a doomed endeavour, unless you find this helpful: “S u during R rights – giviner. No mYter if it’s right, As long asts loud.”
Death From Above 1979 rewarded their fans’ patience with a non-stop blast of energy, burning through their short catalogue with the shrieking, fuzz-drenched, yet oddly danceable fury for which they’re known.
They’ve adopted a better defined visual aesthetic – bassist Jesse Keeler dressed all in black and shrieker/drummer Sebastien Grainger was bleached blonde and in white – but otherwise it was the same old DFA1979. Grainger shredded his vocal cords, Keeler employed liberal amounts of feedback and the crowd tried their best to mosh (there was no room for a pit).
Some people may balk at a band reviving its one-album legacy to play big-ticket (and likely big-paying) gigs half a decade later, but their flameout likely saved us from their inevitable electro-phase. They saved that for their post-DFA projects, MSTRKRFT and Bad Tits. Instead Death From Above was able to enshrine its legacy as it was, and as the tombstone backdrop said:
“DFA1979: 2001 – 2006”.
They play again tonight (Friday). See listing.
