Pendulum: Live Review

2008-05-14 00:07:05

It wasn’t until I started to walk that I realised I couldn’t. Honestly. I really could not move and had to re-program my brain to put one foot in front of the other. Pendulum had destroyed both my feet, my right ear, had given me what felt like a faint heart attack and left me fighting to breathe. These guys sure know how to give us a good time, even if they are (spit!) producers.
    
Rock City tonight was every parent’s worst nightmare and every middle-Englander’s deepest fear: a full-on rave-up, complete with the now-obligatory glowsticks and mental crowd antics. Various debris was flying through the air for an astonishing three hours: jackets, trainers, glowsticks, bottles, sunglasses and random punters. Wow!
    
Frighteningly loud
    
I can’t decide which image sums up the gig better: the determined teenager crowdsurfer who came flying over the crowd with his pants falling off and his right arm already wrapped up in a cast (yes, a cast!) or the terrified young girl being escorted out by one of the bouncers at the end, shaking with fear and muttering to herself, having been driven insane by the thunderous deep driving bass that underscores everything that Pendulum are about.
    
Wearing their drum ‘n’ bass influences firmly on their sleeves, they sample everything from The Prodigy’s Voodoo People (a track they remixed a few years back) to Adam F but underscore it with a nu-metal rock sound. The result is frighteningly loud and I don’t say this lightly but stadium giants Metallica could probably learn a thing or two from these clearly insane but innovative Aussies.
    
Sweaty adolescent adoration
    
Their top ten hit Propane Nightmares is greeted with a cacophony of primal yells, but then, so is everything. Jeez, you could’ve hooked up a rubbish second-hand stereo to the speaker system and these kids would’ve danced along to it. As long as the beats are loud, bloated and accompanied with vocals that are vocoded to death, they love it. Their primary live frontman MC Verse does a tremendous physical workout; waving his arms around, beckoning the crowd ever closer until finally jumping in and becoming immersed in a sea of sweaty, adolescent adoration. Eugh!
    
Great gig though, even if I was temporarily disabled at the end. At least I wasn’t any of the parents parked up outside the venue in their Volvos and BMW’s, staring in disbelief at the horde of half-naked teenagers rampaging their way around Talbot Street. Yes, they are your little darlings and they have been well and truly corrupted by the awesome power of rock! The band responsible for inciting this madness are called Pendulum and their time (fnar!) is most definitely now.
    
Review: Michelle Dhillon
    
Images: The wonderful Lisa Mayfield!
    

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