Live Review: DIIV - Chalk, Brighton 22/08/2022
DIIV carry their sanguine presence to Brighton as they near the end of their European tour.
Shoegaze hasn’t died! At least not yet, and with a performance like that it is hard to consider it ever vanishing. An exceptional display of proficiency and control in a genre that originated in the U.K no more than 30 years ago, DIIV are a band that has matured so much since they first came onto the scene, and their stage presence shows just how interlinked the band is now.
Starting the show with a song from Aphex Twin’s “Selected Ambient Works Volume 2” the focus was clearly on the ambience in the venue. The crowd was hyped up and ready to let loose as Zachary Smith and his fellow bandmates of more than 10 years came onto the stage wearing baggy, loose clothing, almost as if they were about to casually jam out some songs.
As soon as Andrew Bailey took centre stage with their guitar, there was no halting the energy which soared off the stage. Bailey did not stop for a single second as they waived their Jazzmaster from side to side, making one reminisce a forgotten era of guitar music that has luckily resurfaced with heaps of popularity in the past decade.
Some highlights included “Skin Game”, a heavy piece about addiction and recovery, and “Under The Sun” from their 2015 album “Is The Is Are”, both songs following similar patterns of building up energy around energetic bass riffs by Colin Caulfield and fast paced rhythm patterns by drummer Ben Newman, who lay the most solid of foundations for the others to express themselves.
None of these matched the energy of their hit “Doused” off debut album “Oshin”, released in 2011, as the head bobbing crowd turned into an unexpected mosh pit frenzy with ecstatic energy. The encore of “Horsehead” and “Blankenship” truly left no choice but to let this euphoric energy consume you as the synergy and experience of the band was blatantly apparent even from the back of the crowd.
It is clear to see why such a lively mob was attracted to see this band, and why others will in the future. There is a sense of something special going on, especially after their most recent album “Deceiver”. Nobody will want to miss this piece of innovative guitar music which will surely be mentioned even many years from now.
Words by Jay Cohen
