Death From Above 1979

Olympic Community Hall, Halifax, NS, November 9

BY Matthew RitchiePublished Nov 10, 2012

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When the reunited Death From Above 1979 recently set off on their Canadian tour, drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger took to the band's blog to urge fans not to record their shows and simply enjoy the experience. Minus a few douchebags messing around with the new panorama function on the iPhone 5, it looked as if Haligonians took the hint.

Nary an LCD screen was in sight as the mop-topped East Yorkers took the blanketed stage to a massive sold-out crowd. More than half the venue was converted into a mosh pit as Jesse F. Keeler and Grainger started the evening off with near-perfect renditions of "Going Steady," "Cold War" and a floor-shattering version of "Little Girl."

As the show progressed, the band played through a plethora of new tracks, which happened to be even more sexualized than their debut. The group appeared friendly onstage, discussing the songwriting struggles that lead to their hiatus, performing a half-baked cover of "Tom Sawyer" and waxing philosophical about Chris Cornell's over-the-top vocal stylings without a hint of irony.

By the time the set began drawing to a close, DFA 1979 had played nearly the entirety of You're a Woman, I'm a Machine and the Heads Up EP, taking audience requests during the encore and performing an unrehearsed rendition of "Blood on Our Hands" as Grainger fought to remember his own lyrics. Following the vocoder-heavy "Do it!", the band left the stage to finish off the liquor cabinet in the tour rider before their final date in Newfoundland.

Six years after their initial hiatus, the pair didn't miss a beat on their long-awaited return to the East Coast.

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