DZ Deathrays, The Old Blue Last, London

It’s the Saturday before Halloween; the perfect excuse for every venue out there to hold a suitably spooky gig, and alongside the optional ‘deceased icons’ theme, upstairs at The Old Blue Last is no different. As early as 9pm Frankenstein’s monster is in the corner, Kurt Cobain is at the bar, and a very drunk Sherlock Holmes has wandered in looking utterly clueless and definitely in need of a seat and glass of water.

Fast-forward a few hours, and around the turn of midnight the crowds push toward the stage for the evening’s main event. From listening in on crowd members’ conversations, there are individuals from Norway, a group from Kent who are missing the last train, and some usual suspects. This is a big gig for the band. Not in terms of numbers, but in terms of living up to the hype. They don’t disappoint.

Playing a 70:30 split of tracks from ‘Bloodstreams’ and some old school fan favourites, the duo give their all on stage from start to finish. You can either watch the electrified performance of Shane, all hair and guitar thrust and a growling cry for vocals, or you can try Si, also hair, drumsticks and taking any opportunity to throw himself in to the pit.

Now, on request of the band themselves, they invited us to review the pit. From the initial strum you can feel the rush of excitement in the crowd, and by the drop of the first chorus every single person is jumping up and down, some thrashing their hair around, some spilling beer and others throwing the approving ‘you the man’ finger forward. Jesus was even there, and he’d lost a sandal by the end.

As with every DZ Deathrays set, there’s no worry about missing a hit track. This is still a debut album tour - it’s all covered. ‘Dollar Chills’, ‘Gebbie Street’, ‘Cops Capacity’ all ticked. This pair are a duo who can aurally and physically fill a venue of any size; they’re no longer ones to watch, they’re ones to park in the middle of your radar, permanently.