REVIEW: Die! Die! Die! At Galatos, Auckland

Die! Die! Die! are back on tour, and hell yeah it's good to see them again, it feels like it's been ages. Nothing to blast away the misery of the cold and the rain like a bit of visceral, bracing punk noise. They kick off their NZ tour with a double whammy at Galatos to celebrate the release of their third album 'Form', starting with an all ages show, followed by an R18 show.

Two shows in one night you ask? Damn straight. It's a win-win situation as it gives me a break to head to a bar that actually serves cider (why is that so hard to do Auckland, I ask you?) and it means I get to see Die! Die! Die! and Rackets twice. Also, it gave the kids something to do on a Friday night - more all ages shows I say.

It was set to be a long and interesting evening, open to comparisons between sets as the night progressed.

First off, I have to say I missed FatAngryMan as they were on at 6.15 sharp. That's a nice early start! Reports from a friend of the band say they may've sounded a little nervous tonight as they're still getting used to playing live, and Reuben couldn't hear his guitar properly. Other reports say you can hear a bit of Bandicoot (one of Reuben's former bands) in there, but that's debateable. I'll just have to catch them next time, I'm mighty curious to see what these kids are like live. The Nevernudes were alright, they sound a bit softer now their original frontman's left but they grew on me as their set went on, they seemed to get better as their confidence grew. I tried watching some of The Coolies in the second show, but they weren't as exciting as I remembered them and didn't hold my attention for too long. Rackets were great fun to watch, I hadn't seen them before and it was pretty funny seeing a couple of guys up there screaming their lungs out while their faces got redder and redder. (I should point out here that they weren't screaming for entire songs, just parts of them, I don't wanna scare any new fans off) They had super short catchy songs and lots of instrument swapping, and started their second set with a brief cover of 'Love Lift us up Where We Belong.' They definitely have a sense of humour on them, which is always a good thing.

As for Die! Die! Die!, as most of you will know, their live shows are kickass. There was crowdsurfing, by both Andrew and Lachlan, who dived in still holding his bass guitar, while Mikey kept it going onstage with his ever reliable and awesome drumming skills. The crowdsurfing took place during the later R18 show, where there was a bigger, messier crowd. At this point I must admit that while the larger crowd may've looked more impressive they seemed a lot more drunk and pushy. I don't wanna say 'violent' but let's just say I enjoyed dancing in the first crowd a lot more, firstly because there were no sweaty topless guys in there, and secondly because the first show was an all ages one so there was no alcohol being served. What? Die! Die! Die! sans alcohol?!

Well yes, and I don't know if this was the main contributing factor, but it was a much tighter (and smaller) more compact mosh pit and I was able to really get amongst it with less injuries from people slamming into me from a distance. I wonder if Die! Die! Die! even enjoyed it a more in the first half, as I found out from chatting to Andrew that he's actually been off the booze for the past six months. Impressive. He had more guitar problems in the first set which marred it slightly for him, but the crowd were still loving it in both sets, especially new singles 'We Built Our Own Oppressors' and 'HowYe', which sounded even better than I could've imagined even after hearing them on the radio all week. The new songs sounded mellower, more melodic and experimental, but I honestly don't think anyone cared, we were too busy buzzing off all the smack-you-in-the-face moments, the raw immediacy of A.T.T.I.T.U.D, and the rough elegance of 'Sideways Here We come'. When it came to the big ending with 'Blue Skies', it was as brilliant as ever, but I noticed Andrew made the older crowd wait that little bit longer during the quiet build-up before the final blow. Maybe cos they weren't being quiet enough, there was a lot of noisy chatter in the room, and much less of the palpable sense of anticipation that I felt with the younger crowd. So instead of shouting 'Go!!' at the end like you'd expect, he just voiced it quietly. Was it just for variation between sets? Or did he just want everyone to settle down and shut up for a bit? Either way it just goes to show that even a band this consistent still refuse to be predictable.

Review by Dedee Wirjapranata