DMAs at Wembley Arena

This was another gig which had to be moved due to Brixton Academy's licensing problems. Which is a great pity as Brixton is such a good venue. And Wembley Arena, frankly, is not. It is, after all, an arena, meant to be multi purpose. Not a theatre. So there is no rake and the seats face the other seats, not the stage. It is basically a cavernous shed. Still, if you get to the front it matters little. And I arrive early for that very purpose. Maybe too early? Below I think shows what I mean by cavernous. And too early. I definitely beat the crowds.

Unfortunately I also lost my intended companion for this, Luka, to a mock A level - the one catch with having young friends to go to gigs with! But actually all was well (for me at least if not for Luka) as one of his mates agreed to join me instead. And while I had met Aron a few times I hadn't really had a long conversation with him. So that changed tonight, and I found he was the very most agreeable of company. Thanks Luka for having quality friends to pass on😀

So, having spent a while in conversation, the first support arrived, a Newcastle band called Demob Happy. Who were really very good for an opening support. Indeed I warmed to them the longer they played. 

An example here of appearances being deceptive. The drummer acted essentially as backing vocals and had a good but very high pitched voice (which was a fitting counterpoint to the deeper lead.) But if you had asked me I would have assumed that the lead vocalist (looking like a hair dresser) would be the high one and the burly drummer the deep one. 

In any event they were good enough that I would look out for them again. As I would do for Tribes, the second support. You could tell they were further up the pecking order - just a more assured approach. And they announced they would have a new album (well anything would be new to me and nearly all the audience!) later in the year, and would tour. So I might just go if they are in London somewhere small.

As you can see from the photo below (from my photo correspondent up in the seating!), by now the arena had filled up rather. I would guess the crowd was about 10,000, which is a lot for a band that don't really have a high profile. But there can be no doubt of the popularity of the DMAs. Aron and I both remarked on the demographic. There were a few youngsters like him, but they were very much in the minority. It was more a thirtyish audience but with a surprisingly large scattering of folks my sort of age. Although my feel for this might be skewed by standing at the edge of the stage - the mosh pit in the middle was no doubt of a rather younger vintage. Which quickly included Aron, inevitably drawn to the opportunity to thrash around a bit and relieve the frustrations of revising for A levels.

Now I have often commented on what an extraordinary band the DMAs are to see live. All four of their albums are very good, and I had much enjoyed listening to their CDs as "homework" for this gig. Understandably they played quite a lot from the new album, and indeed opened and closed with tracks from it. But if you had only heard their recordings you would think them rather middle of the road. And definitely not a band to inspire a vigorous mosh pit. Whereas when you see them live it is a very different story. They have a far heavier, rockier sound. Just brilliant. And brilliant atmosphere.

Furthermore, as another example of appearances being deceptive (or maybe just me falling for stereotypes) but the lead vocalist (Tommy O'Dell) has a wonderful almost sweet voice, and sings a lot of romantic, charming lyrics - but he looks like an archetypal chav that you (or I at least) would expect to be barking out misogynist rap.

For most bands the lead vocalist is also the spokesman of the band, but not the DMAs. All the chat with the audience comes from this guy below (Johnny Took) on acoustic guitar. Indeed that is the only reason he has a mic. He never sings into it. He does sing along, but rather like the audience members might, just for his own pleasure.

And as you can see, for no explicable reason, he always wears a coat on stage, although the temperature would be off the scale hot under those lights. (This is always a pain about going to gigs this time of year. Inside the venue it is pretty hot and a lot of lads doing the most vigorous dancing stripped to the waist, whereas of course going out into the April night it is bloody freezing. And a cloakroom isn't really an option. So it is overheat inside or freeze outside.)

But despite the heat Johnny seemed to enjoy himself!

And of course they fail to meet another of my stereotypes. They are Aussies from Sydney. Which in my mind means they should be bronzed beach bums, not chavs who should be from Manchester.  But that no doubt reflects my rather limited exposure to Australian men - either on Aussie soap operas or working London bars!

Anyway, suffice to say they went down a storm. I would certainly put it down as one of my favourite ever gigs - DMAs superb, the supports far better than average, amiable fans, no real problems getting out despite the crowds and a really nice chap to talk to while waiting for the acts to do their stuff. And on tube home I got chatting to a couple of guys who had flown in from Dublin just for this gig. Yes DMAs really are that popular, if you are in the know!