Rocker (feedbot)
Platinum Member
When the Pendulum lads want to celebrate, they head to Brixton. South London has embraced the Aussies – it’s where they recorded their live album, after all – and ‘Inertia’ is blaring from every graffitied corner on the walk from the Tube. More than that, tonight feels like the sort of night that condenses South London energy into a single space; ravers, metallers, young and old, putting aside tribal scene politics to have a good old dance on a Friday night. It’s all unusually inspiring, and, as it turns out, incredibly well constructed.
Alt Blk Era are a perfect support choice, embodying this heavy wholesome sensation that floats through the atmosphere. ‘Rave Immortal’ hits heavy and euphoric before ‘Run Rabbit’ sprinkles vocal sugar over hazy schoolyard beats, but its latest single ‘Ok (Cyber Racing)’ that feels the most three-dimensional in its vision. When they let the snark out on ‘My Drummers Girlfriend’, we’re given permission to let ourselves go in anticipation of the mighty Pendulum. Smoother but just as thumping, they build to a thrashing crescendo.
“We are the architects of chaos, the harbingers of havoc and this our anthem,” reads the ominous intro, but Pendulum’s treats of chaos fortunately ring hollow. Instead, what we get is a precisely curated journey through the past and future, a constructed artistic exploration that results in a completely wholesome and compelling chance to dance it out. While obviously the majority of their set is based on ‘Inertia’, they maintain a delicate balance between showing off the new album that’s the whole point of the tour, and dropping the bangers that we’re really here for. Yes, ‘Napalm’ makes a bold statement as a hypnotic prelude to the set, but when they playfully drop ‘Propane Nightmares’ it’s pure pop fun that connects us together though demagnetised feet and fingers clawing to shouted melodies, with enough vocal flex to remind us that this is really live and we’re really experiencing our favourites in person.
The debate about what Pendulum are is officially settled tonight. They’re a rock band making pseudo-electronic literal drum and bass, not an electronic band cosplaying as rockers. When the poorly-hidden secret is revealed that it was a guitar behind our favourite lines all along, it doesn’t make the trick less fun. If anything, we’re stunned by what’s behind the thin curtain as ‘Blood Sugar’ slams straight into ‘Voodoo People’ and we’re treated to an all-consuming few seconds of nothing but fun. “I think it’s only fair we pretend to be a metal band for a few minutes,” jokes vocalist Rob Swire as he heads into ‘Guiding Lights’. The shift between each of Pendulum’s many sides feels natural, like the contrast between the club and the buoyant stride home through a starlit night.
This is a show that passes in an instant, seventeen songs that flash across your consciousness like a camera flash. From the sandworm bass of ‘Nothing For Free’ to the mini cinema trip of both parts of ‘The Island’, we’re on a conveyor belt through Pendulum; past and present. It’s the encore that really surprises though: for all the drama and centre-spinning hits, we never expected that ‘Witchcraft’ would appear with beauty and gentleness punching into video game fantasy and hope splintering on the rocky bass. “Does everyone wanna go out sad or should we cheer it up a bit?” Swire laughs, before ‘Tarantula’ as an absolutely huge finale, a song that makes us feel like we’ve been put through a cheese grater and we love every second of it. Pendulum know exactly what we want, and they’ve put together an experience that gives us our nostalgic favourites reinvigorated with a solid bass of new connections. There’s very little bite to their sound any more, but that’s not the point. They’ve evolved into a band that can provide wholesome unity through massive dance numbers, with a solid layer of new material which becomes all the more appealing when it’s neatly slotted into a live set. It’s very difficult not to have a hell of a good night, packed with re-traced memories, when Pendulum swing into town.
KATE ALLVEY
Alt Blk Era are a perfect support choice, embodying this heavy wholesome sensation that floats through the atmosphere. ‘Rave Immortal’ hits heavy and euphoric before ‘Run Rabbit’ sprinkles vocal sugar over hazy schoolyard beats, but its latest single ‘Ok (Cyber Racing)’ that feels the most three-dimensional in its vision. When they let the snark out on ‘My Drummers Girlfriend’, we’re given permission to let ourselves go in anticipation of the mighty Pendulum. Smoother but just as thumping, they build to a thrashing crescendo.
“We are the architects of chaos, the harbingers of havoc and this our anthem,” reads the ominous intro, but Pendulum’s treats of chaos fortunately ring hollow. Instead, what we get is a precisely curated journey through the past and future, a constructed artistic exploration that results in a completely wholesome and compelling chance to dance it out. While obviously the majority of their set is based on ‘Inertia’, they maintain a delicate balance between showing off the new album that’s the whole point of the tour, and dropping the bangers that we’re really here for. Yes, ‘Napalm’ makes a bold statement as a hypnotic prelude to the set, but when they playfully drop ‘Propane Nightmares’ it’s pure pop fun that connects us together though demagnetised feet and fingers clawing to shouted melodies, with enough vocal flex to remind us that this is really live and we’re really experiencing our favourites in person.
The debate about what Pendulum are is officially settled tonight. They’re a rock band making pseudo-electronic literal drum and bass, not an electronic band cosplaying as rockers. When the poorly-hidden secret is revealed that it was a guitar behind our favourite lines all along, it doesn’t make the trick less fun. If anything, we’re stunned by what’s behind the thin curtain as ‘Blood Sugar’ slams straight into ‘Voodoo People’ and we’re treated to an all-consuming few seconds of nothing but fun. “I think it’s only fair we pretend to be a metal band for a few minutes,” jokes vocalist Rob Swire as he heads into ‘Guiding Lights’. The shift between each of Pendulum’s many sides feels natural, like the contrast between the club and the buoyant stride home through a starlit night.
This is a show that passes in an instant, seventeen songs that flash across your consciousness like a camera flash. From the sandworm bass of ‘Nothing For Free’ to the mini cinema trip of both parts of ‘The Island’, we’re on a conveyor belt through Pendulum; past and present. It’s the encore that really surprises though: for all the drama and centre-spinning hits, we never expected that ‘Witchcraft’ would appear with beauty and gentleness punching into video game fantasy and hope splintering on the rocky bass. “Does everyone wanna go out sad or should we cheer it up a bit?” Swire laughs, before ‘Tarantula’ as an absolutely huge finale, a song that makes us feel like we’ve been put through a cheese grater and we love every second of it. Pendulum know exactly what we want, and they’ve put together an experience that gives us our nostalgic favourites reinvigorated with a solid bass of new connections. There’s very little bite to their sound any more, but that’s not the point. They’ve evolved into a band that can provide wholesome unity through massive dance numbers, with a solid layer of new material which becomes all the more appealing when it’s neatly slotted into a live set. It’s very difficult not to have a hell of a good night, packed with re-traced memories, when Pendulum swing into town.
KATE ALLVEY