DZ Deathrays + PUP + Ali Barter + Press Club @ The Forum 15-09-18

words: Megan Henderson // photos: Sarah Rix (@sarahrix)

Review

“…multitudes of crowd surfing bodies flying through the air as everyone collectively smashed into each other.”

Happy 10th Birthday to DZ Deathrays! What better way to celebrate 10 years of shredding than a party with 2,000 of your closest mates at the Forum Theatre?

This was the anniversary tour to end all anniversaries, with supports from not only Canadian punk outfit PUP, but also Ali Barter, Press Club, and intermission sets from Yacht Club DJs.

Melbourne indie rockers Press Club were first up, and after watching their set I’ve decided I want to be the front woman Natalie Foster when I grow up. She absolutely oozed confidence and claimed that stage for her own, leaving no part of it untouched.  

Yacht Club DJs kept us in the zone before Ali Barter took to the stage to continue representing the badass females of the evening. Towards the end Barter had the crowd singing along with her, with particular love being shown for her track “Girlie Bits”.

After another quick groove with Yacht Club DJs we were greeted by PUP who have been with the DZ boys for their entire tour. It almost felt as though PUP were the headliners by the reaction from the crowd – it’s clear that the DZ fans were pretty stoked when they found out PUP were supporting.

For just three people on stage, the DZ Deathrays boys make enough racket to sound like a five-piece band with their face-melting guitar solos and ferocious, electric riffs. With three albums worth of tracks to choose from, the set list was carefully curated with bangers both old and new. Despite being from a range of years, the common denominator with every track played is the head banging, thrashing and bashing coming from the crowd, with a pit opened up for just about every song. As rowdy as they were though, the crowd never failed to pick one another up when they took a tumble amongst the mosh, which was “Bloody Lovely” to see (pardon the pun).

The contrast between the graceful and majestic Forum Theatre with the brash and abrasive punk rock coming from the stage made me laugh, but the excellent quality of the Forum’s sound system projected the talents of all the artists so brilliantly. All the artists possessed a sound that demanded to be heard – so it would’ve been a shame to limit them to any smaller a venue. 

The boys didn’t have much time to sit down and chat with us, but they more than made up for the little interaction by smashing out tune after tune. 2014 banger, “Gina Works at Hearts”, was without a doubt the audience favourite and saw multitudes of crowd surfing bodies flying through the air as everyone collectively smashed into each other with equal parts savagery and respect (quite an unusual combination). The three-piece played for just over an over before we were treated to that classic punk rock scream and absolutely filthy electric riff that is “Shred For Summer”. This one closed the set and left the crowd soaked with sweat, craving more. 

Cheers for having me DZ Deathrays and here’s to the next decade!