The Last Show At Death By Audio (November 22, 2014)

It’s now been a month since Death By Audio shut it’s doors. Over the last few months Andrew and I have seen a few of the final shows that the great DIY Brooklyn venue has treated us with. As you may have noticed, I have fallen a bit behind on my concert coverage, and am regrettably just getting to post this show. But better late than never as they say, plus now I can look at the show from a lens that’s a month removed from the hype of the show.

By the time I got to DBA the line was already pretty massive, and within the hours of waiting the line spread all the way past Glasslands. It was obvious that way more people were on line than could possibly get in, especially considering that there was a massive guestlist that only allowed the venue to sell tickets to about 80 people. I understand that the venue had a lot of friends and family that they wanted to get in (understandable), but they should have warned people that it would be limited admission to prevent the eventual ruckus that must have came once the large amount of people were left rejected in the cold (although they did give out free hot chocolate and tea to fans on line). However, for those lucky enough to get in, they were treated to a set featured a lineup of DBA favorites, who were mostly kept secret prior to the show, but most of us had a fairly good idea of who it would be.

Up first was local band Grooms, who are no strangers to DBA, using it as their practice space for many years. They delivered a strong and assured set, powering through what was surely an emotional moment for the group. They will release their new album Comb the Feelings Through Your Hair next year via Western Vinyl.

Following Grooms was Nashville, Tennessee’s Jeff The Brotherhood, no strangers to playing DBA. I saw them just a month prior at Santos, but this set was on a different level: rowdy with a sense of purpose. Their dirty blues-flavored garage rock caused many sweaty bodies to collide, and many crowdsurfers to go flying. It was a grand old time. They’ll release their new album next year. Stream a new track off of it called “What’s A Creep,” which is posted along with my photos of them.

A Place To Bury Strangers have strong ties to DBA, with frontman Oliver Ackermann calling it home, a place where he made his own custom guitar pedals. The last show just happened to also be Ackermann’s birthday. His girlfriend presented him with a cake fully lit with candles and the crowd serenaded him with “Happy Birthday” before they began their noisy rock freakout. They delivered their set in a foggy strobe inducing haze, a deliriously mind-bending performance that ended with bassist Dion Lunadon crowdsurfing, and eventually leaving his guitar in the ceiling as fans held their strobe light into the air. Rock and roll. They’ll release new album Transfixiation on February 17 via Dead Oceans (single “Straight” is posted below).

Last, but most certainly not least was a performance from Lightning Bolt. The live show of the Providence, Rhode Island duo of Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson has quite the reputation. I had some idea of what to expect, but it’s completely different once the two start playing. Chippendale provides hard hitting percussion along with maniac distorted vocals over some overly fuzzy bass riffs from Gibson. The crowd went absolutely banana’s during their set, moshing and crowdsurfing in any way possible. I even saw one fan eating a burrito while crowdsurfing (there’s a somewhat unconvincing photo of it posted below, look carefully). Chippendale took time to reminisce about the venue, wondering how one plays “the last show.” They offered some inspiring words about the future of DIY places such as DBA, as well as some more blunt ideas such as “Fuck Vice.” DBA’s Edan Wilber went for one last epic crowdsurf, which was an emotional one full of thank yous (yes, while he was in mid-air!).

Lightning Bolt returned for a energetic encore, which ended nearly 2 a.m. and was finished off with tons of Vice magazines brought into the crowd which were promptly ripped up and thrown into the air as Lightning Bolt and the crowd chanted “Fuck Vice,” until the crowd slowly exited the building.

It was a sweaty and exhausting show, but one that will certainly never be forgotten by me, or anyone else who adores live music.

R.I.P. DBA

Photos of the evening posted below.