DMA’s, O2 Institute, Birmingham - review
This was what a Friday night gig is supposed to look and feel like.
Revellers, dressed up in their finest V-neck tees and Fred Perrys sipping on a cold one and having a sing-song.
The atmosphere was roaring from start to finish as people said ‘naff off’ to the working week and opened up their weekend in style.
The energy they were getting back from these Australian Brit pop throwbacks only fuelled this.
Tommy O’Dell is an endearing frontman prowling the stage.
He leads the singing like a choirmaster, his gospel being the snarling songs this three-piece-turned-six-piece on the stage like to provide.
And their mixture of Liam Gallagher swagger, Stone Roses thick bass lines and Coldplay-esque acoustic sing-alongs is catchy, and we were embroiled in a mass Aussie-oke a couple of songs in that barely let up.
You can imagine the crowd based on the influences, and what was perhaps most refreshing here was the number of hands thrust skywards, without a dreaded mobile phone in their grip.
Instead, heads tilted back (often in a bucket hat), the hands’ owners were involved in a guttural scream of a line from one of their favourite DMA’s tracks.
The growly For Now sounded angry as it bounced off the walls of this ornately beautiful venue.
It’s like the neighbourhood dog who is stood, ears pointed and corners of its mouth curling back to reveal fangs at the sight of a potential rival.
The jangling guitars and dreamy air of Step Up The Morphine was delightful in its light touch, while fan favourite Delete, with that monstrously intense outro, had every single person in the room tuned in and screaming along.
Upstairs, too, shunned their seats as fists punched the air in response to O’Dell’s signalled instructions.
Do I Need You Now? And Emily Whyte off the new record, also called For Now, sounded eerily taught when performed, and the starting of the encore with Play It Out was a good choice with those sliding guitars acting like the soothing calls of a humpback whale chilling in the depths.
And when the frenetic drumbeat of the talented Liam Hoskins signalled the beginning of closer Lay Down the frenzy was well passed frazzled and the dance/bounce-off that followed was one giant party.
