Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Easter resurrections

Jim Ward may have bailed out on the eve of At The Drive-In's live comeback, but his departure doesn't seem to have negatively impacted on the shows - according to Stevie Chick's review of their show at the Roundhouse, at least. The Guardian critic was most struck by their "depth and complexity" rather than their reliable punk "dynamism": "Where once they seemed to be helplessly careering into oncoming traffic, tonight they prove no less thrilling when in total, triumphant control, a glorious riot of jagged riffs, flailing bodies and galvanising anthems. They seem, for the first time since 2001, like a band with a future."

Meanwhile, LCD Soundsystem's own much anticipated resurrection kicked off (appropriately enough) on Easter Sunday at Webster Hall in New York. While the gig suffered from some technical gremlins, the setlist was staggeringly good, a reminder of just how many superb tracks they have in their arsenal, and one of those lucky enough to be in attendance concluded that "[James Murphy's] dance-punk underdog collective still has a taste for the fight, belonging not to the history books but very much to the present".

The band have since announced another pair of shows, this time at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and with Savages in support, and will be appearing at a whole host of summer festivals - most notably Glastonbury, for which further bands have just been announced. Murphy's crew will line up alongside PJ Harvey, Bat For Lashes, Savages, Beck, ZZ Top, Foals, New Order, Chvrches, M83, Mercury Rev, Kurt Vile, John Grant and post-rock godfathers Sigur Ros and Explosions In The Sky - and a refreshing lack of landfill indie. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Glastonbury often gets a bad rap from musos, but the fact is that if you ignore the headliners, the organisers' choice of bookings is almost always laudable.

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