This is not the first tour where La Butcherettes have joined At The Drive In on tour. In most cases, you’d imagine that taking a second bite of the cherry in attempting to set-up proceedings for one of the greatest live bands of all time would suggest you were something of a glutton for punishment. But La Butcherettes manage to pull it off...
...again. In fact, they absolutely nail their moment on the bigger stages.
The set itself draws from their entire spectrum of their eclectic back catalogue and frontwoman Teri Gender Bender never drops below explosive. It’s not only the aural appeal which makes the La Butcherettes experience; the visual elements ensure that it’s a complete 360 encounter with a band who deserve to be playing venues of this size as the headline act.
At The Drive In themselves have long held an almost mythical live reputation. When they burst into the mainstream with their, entirely unexpected, ‘Relationship of Command’ mega-hit, their stage show was a chaotic tsunami of whirling limbs and thrashing minds. Tonight, it’s refreshing to see that their decade-long absence did nothing to temper their passionate tirade and perhaps the most exciting element of the show is the revelation that all of the material from last year’s studio return ‘in•ter a•li•a’ sits perfectly alongside the older cuts, as if the band never really went away after all.
The band have so much confidence in the newer material, that they have no qualms with unleashing ‘Arcarsenal’ as their opening track. It’s a mission statement which reminds the crowd that there will be no fucking around this evening. From there, ‘No Wolf Like The Present’, one of the highlights of the recent material, explodes into the carnage that the band have long since been capable of.
The set continues in this vein, only ever letting up when the band delve into the more subtle, meandering outlets for their fury, as with set highlight ‘Invalid Litter Dept.’ which peaks, troughs and sounds as devastatingly fresh as it did the day the band first committed it to tape.
The encore, when it comes, is a brief gut-punch as ‘Pattern Against User’ sends the masses barrelling out into Manchester’s sub-zero conditions with a stark reminder that, just occasionally, old dogs can teach us all new tricks.
The set itself draws from their entire spectrum of their eclectic back catalogue and frontwoman Teri Gender Bender never drops below explosive. It’s not only the aural appeal which makes the La Butcherettes experience; the visual elements ensure that it’s a complete 360 encounter with a band who deserve to be playing venues of this size as the headline act.
At The Drive In themselves have long held an almost mythical live reputation. When they burst into the mainstream with their, entirely unexpected, ‘Relationship of Command’ mega-hit, their stage show was a chaotic tsunami of whirling limbs and thrashing minds. Tonight, it’s refreshing to see that their decade-long absence did nothing to temper their passionate tirade and perhaps the most exciting element of the show is the revelation that all of the material from last year’s studio return ‘in•ter a•li•a’ sits perfectly alongside the older cuts, as if the band never really went away after all.
The band have so much confidence in the newer material, that they have no qualms with unleashing ‘Arcarsenal’ as their opening track. It’s a mission statement which reminds the crowd that there will be no fucking around this evening. From there, ‘No Wolf Like The Present’, one of the highlights of the recent material, explodes into the carnage that the band have long since been capable of.
The set continues in this vein, only ever letting up when the band delve into the more subtle, meandering outlets for their fury, as with set highlight ‘Invalid Litter Dept.’ which peaks, troughs and sounds as devastatingly fresh as it did the day the band first committed it to tape.
The encore, when it comes, is a brief gut-punch as ‘Pattern Against User’ sends the masses barrelling out into Manchester’s sub-zero conditions with a stark reminder that, just occasionally, old dogs can teach us all new tricks.
RSS Feed