DMA’s, Hatchie @ Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide 2/6/2018
It was a big night at Thebarton Theatre with a full house for DMA’s and Hatchie. DMA’s upward rise continues and no doubt they are keeping the indie rock torch alight as the best of the crop of indie rock bands making their make. They tick all the right boxes, make all the right noises and have two killer albums to their credit. It was an awesome night seeing two great bands that are destined for great things.
Hatchie opened proceedings with this being her second only performance in Adelaide rock city. Wow! Wow! Wow! Hatchie blew the crowd away with her pop sensibilities and beautiful harmonies. Hatchie’s set was focused on her new EP titled Sugar & Spice featuring Try, Ignored, her current single Sleep and Sure as well as the only unreleased track from the album Bad Guy. There will be a lot more noise made about Hatchie as the rest of the world start to catch on about how awesome she is. The EP is a great purchase on vinyl, CD and even cassette! Yep, the cassingle is making a comeback!
The crowd was filling the infamous Thebbie Theatre scrambling for the best vantage point. Despite some anti-social crowd elements the atmosphere was amazing as the DMA’s hit the stage. It was like a heroes home welcoming and the band didn’t put a foot wrong over the next ninety minutes or so. The heart and soul of the DMA’s is Thomas O’Dell on vocals, Matthew Mason on lead guitar and Johnny Took on acoustic guitar. Now fleshing out their live sound with touring musicians Joel Flyger (rhythm guitar), Thomas Crandles (bass guitar) and Liam Hoskins (drums).
Opening with Feels Like 37 is was like stand back and look on with amazement, these guys are really something. Big single For Now off the new album of the same name was fantastic. The crowd knew the words and it must have been a huge buzz for the band seeing their songs being sung back to them. Their influences are obvious, not that’s a bad thing, with the comparison to a younger Oasis. Timeless, In The Air were set highlights but the likes of Warsaw, Time & Money and Break Me from the new album will be set staples in time. There wasn’t a lot of talking between songs as the music did all the talking. O’Dell numerous times thanked the crowd for their support and looked taken aback with all the adulation shown to the band (well deserved and earned, enjoy it!).
Delete can only be described as epic! If anyone is walking away from this show thinking about that best moment of the night, this would have been it. Hot damn! The crowd didn’t need any further encouragement but they were up on shoulders, camera phones out savouring this one. The main set was wrapped up with Do I Need You Now?, Dawning and the stellar Emily Whyte.
Returning for an encore the band could do no wrong with Play It Out, In The Moment and finishing on killer single Lay Down. This show can really only be described as brilliant and I’ll be watching on keenly to watching the onward rise of both the DMA’s and Hatchie.
Live Review by Rob Lyon