Pendulum, DJ Shock One @Festival Hall, Melbourne(01/11/2010)

Mon 8th Nov, 2010 in Gig Reviews

There aren’t many bands who can successfully pull off the dance/rock crossover gig, at least not for an extended period of time. The Prodigy of course have been rocking that particular niche for a few decades, albeit with a slightly dodgy post-millennium misstep, but bands like The Crystal Method and Lunatic Calm haven’t managed to stay in the spotlight for much longer than one or two singles. Step up Pendulum. With a trio of albums under the belt, each more commercially successful than the last, now is the time for the Sydney five-piece to begin their push towards the top of the pile and latest LP Immersion is a great base for them to build on. The only question that remains is this: in the context of their impending assault on the charts, will their genre-splicing big beat stand up well enough in the live arena to fully justify their position as leader in the field?

Putting in a valuable shift as ‘crowd warmer-upperer’ is DJ Shock One, who despite having a decidedly dodgy moniker has the chops to get the Festival Hall boards creaking under the weight of some super keen bouncing souls. Putting out bona fide favourites like Katy B’s On A Mission to a rowdy reception, he isn’t afraid to mix things up and nothing is sacred, even unsuspecting Florence and The Machine takes a sampling over the top of some pulsing jungle beats. As songs and samples blend in and out of the mix, there are intermittent roars and surges in the crowd and the whole place begins to resemble an Ibiza dance hall circa 1997 minus the foam cannons and cage dancers. Favouring the dub-step drum kicks that are the current joy of en vogue DJs the globe over, Shock One is undoubtedly a talented mixer, although the crowd are occasionally a little slow to respond, possibly due to the pure breadth of the venue, which doesn’t really lend itself to a dance act. Craning to stare at the singular figure onstage, some of the early night attendees don’t quite know whether to dance, mosh or nod their heads, waiting as they are for a live band to appear.

And arrive a live band does in the form of the 4 instrumentalists from the headliner, accompanied by irrepressible MC and a few short blasts of bass which remind those of us lucky enough to have hair whether we put product it in it tonight. Sirens wail and a huge red lights flash as the leather clad bandmates arrive to a scene resembling something from Escape From New York and a suddenly cramped audience comes to life in astonishing fashion. With a genuine focal point to push towards, the masses in the moshpit are no longer confused and when the band drops a favourite like Watercolour, their response is immediate and intense, whirling around the floor in frenzied circle pits or hopping from foot to foot like their lives depended on it. After all, in this genre the success of a performance must be judged mainly by the response of the listener and on this evidence Pendulum have that aspect well and truly covered. Songs like Showdown don’t bother with long, drawn out intros and with just a microsecond to get going, the never stationary crowd don’t mess around either, bringing the energy to the floor immediately and sustainedly for the rest of the night.

Performance-wise the music is as impeccable as it needs to be, not a beat missed or a chord left unstrummed. The drummer is particularly proficient, thumping out the group’s trademark bass stomp with unerring vigour and occasionally dipping in and out of ragga shuffle or samba-like tom tom work, while lead singer Rob Swire swaps between the decks and his keyboard guitar with increasing regularity as the show progresses. Aside from this, there isn’t a whole heap of movement onstage, with the instrumentalists in the band ensconced in ‘rock band stations’ across the boards setting up a strange dichotomy between the look of the band and the sounds emitting from the speakers. Amidst the hail of lights and raucous, belligerent audience Pendulum look like a rock band meddling with dance beats, but whether they deliver a synth-led boogie like Witchcraft or a guitar heavy track like Granite they sound like a genuine, bombastic dance act fooling around with instruments.

To this end, the inclusion of MC Ben Mount is understandable even if his mid song ‘come on, wait, wait, now!’s are often times superfluous. Providing much needed movement to the stage and doing a decent job of whipping the crowd up between songs Mount is an Energizer bunny of a promoter, but it can’t be denied that when drawing the obvious comparison between himself and The Prodigy’s Keith Flint, his act falls a little short in the entertainment stakes. Perhaps he needs to develop a stronger personality or otherwise learn the subtle art of taking a back step occasionally, but either way his performance needs to develop as the band’s music gathers pace on the live scene.

Not that this is the only possible hurdle Pendulum need to overcome as their meteoric rise to widespread recognition continues. Unashamedly comparing Australia’s best once again to the Essex masters of dance-punk, it must be noted that Liam Howlett et al have the edge on Pendulum just slightly by virtue of variety in song and the ability to change pace and tone quickly and effectively mid set. As time wears on at Festy, the thumping big beat drum and slabs of guitar begin to become a little repetitive, much of their later work blending into one heaving swarm of electronic and they’ll need to work hard to avoid this becoming less of a selling point and more of a gimmick. Having said that, the sweating, euphoric mass of bodies stumbling triumphantly out onto Dudley Street at 11am would no doubt testify that whatever lies in store for Pendulum down the line, right now they’re coming up with the goods in a gloriously energetic fashion.

CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE