Arriving on time for the scheduled 8pm opening slot I find proceedings delayed by a lengthy queue outside SWG3, it appears someone wasn’t expecting the massive turn out for Bradford Cox’s solo project Atlas Sound’s opening set.
Still the queue seems to move fast and this delay give me time to get a swift pint in and the opportunity to be entertained by an impromptu outburst by a guy at the bar throwing his dummy out at people being served before him.
During the Atlas Sound set Cox faces away from the stage for the majority of the time, as if trying to hide his somewhat obvious presence; he is quite an easily distinguishable figure.
If he is actually trying to hide his presence in both acts you would think he’s somewhat trying to kid himself, yet still some of the crowd around me seem oblivious to the frontman of tonight’s headliners entertaining them for the opening half an hour or so.
The set itself is mesmorising as looping organic synths are laid down before Cox retreats to the back of the stage to add guitar, only facing the crowd for the seldom, yet lushly reverberated vocals.
The set continues in this somewhat low-key vein, but Cox has the initiated vast majority engrossed by his bedroom project’s output, which remains distinctive from his band’s material.
Before the show the band’s PR advised me “Bradford on stage all night,” when she said that I assumed she meant Cox was in both acts, not that he wouldn’t leave the stage at all once he took to it the first time.
As the sparkling ambience of Atlas Sound’s set draws to a close the other three members of Deerhunter wander on stage and with a few clicks of drumsticks we’re into the headline slot as guitarist Lockett Pundt takes lead vocal duties on opener ‘Desire Lines’
It takes about 40-minutes onstage before Cox utters his first words to the audience with a shift “thank you” before taking vocal duties again on the soothing majesty of ‘Breaker’, and it seems from this point you can’t shut him up.
“Everyone here is so cheerful… with a good disposition,” he chirps, as if he’s spent the last set just coming out of his shell; the quality of his band’s musical output means he doesn’t really need to chat, but once he’s started he does so regularly and with such grateful enthusiasm that it helps the crowd warm to him further.
This year’s Fading Frontier saw another turning point in Deerhunter’s impressive output; following the all out garage rock loudness of 2013’s Monomania, it’s by far their most radio friendly release to date, but without shedding an ounce of that quality from a now impressively substantial back catalogue.
It seems, after last year’s a nasty car accident, the physically fragile frontman has taken a new outlook on things, yet maintains that outspoken yet insecure vibe he has always portrayed.
A bizarre shout out from the crowd for the band to play ‘Wonderwall’ causes Cox to quip “have you not read about me?” before introducing a “unique number from our discography” in ‘Rainwater Cassette Exchange’, from 2009’s EP of the same name, giving Cox the chance to go instrument-less for the first time in the set, strutting confidently at the front of the stage before retreating to take on synth duties.
Although the set at no point drops in quality the lack of gap between support and headliner does create a sort of endurance test in the form of length, as the weariness and attention span of a Tuesday evening audience kicks in and runs out it’s testament to the prowess of the band that they can touch the set’s elation levels high enough to keep things interesting.
As piercing blue light shines down from behind the band a crowd member shouts “exterminate”, a somewhat obvious reference on these shores, but one that seems to have been missed by Cox, regardless his reading into it as an “exterminate all rational thought” Naked Lunch reference is rather refreshing, before he introduces ‘All The Same’ with the reassuring “this is a good song, you’ll like it”.
As perhaps the biggest earworm of a song in their back catalogue, ‘Nothing Ever Happened’, kicks into gear shining through a real drive in Deerhunter’s set that mesmorises the busy SWG3 as the overwhelming excellence of the band onstage more that out shines the enduring length of the set.
Closing proceedings on an audience requested ‘Fluorescent Grey’, “she’s been giving me good energy the whole show… we’re just gonna take some pictures and takes some samples of your skin and hair,” Cox not only displays an on point humour to his stage personality, but maintains a real likeability that matches perfectly with his band’s undoubted quality.
This quality is further defined as the crowd wait long after the band has left the stage and the music has come on over the PA, Cox even emerges again to apologise that they can’t perform an encore, a sentiment that comes across as disappointing for most, but also just as endearing.
Words: Iain Dawson
Photos: Paul Storr
