Pop Break Live: Death from Above 1979 ‘Is 4 Lovers North American Tour 2022 ‘with The OBGMS at The Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California on Tuesday November 1, 2022
Concert season is back in full force this fall of 2022. After the pandemic put a halt to live music for over a year in most cities across the world, it appears that most bands eager to perform live have launched a tour to reconnect with fans. Canadian punk rockers Death From Above 1979 are no exception. Finishing up their first tour outside their home of Canada since 2019, bassist Jesse F. Keeler and drummer/singer Sebastien Grainger took the stage at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood to a rapturous crowd hungry for live music.
The show felt like a celebration in two parts: one, in reminding everyone of the excellence that was their debut record, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, and second, in promoting their acclaimed 2021 record, Is 4 Lovers. Before DFA could take the stage, fellow Toronto-based, hometown heroes of Canada, The OBGMs, brought the crowd to both their feet and their knees with a memorably excitable set. With lots of crowd participation, a couple of sweaty mosh pits, and solid tunes, The OBGMs were sure to gain new fans after their punky but modern performance.
Energy remained high after the opener as Keeler and Grainger came out to perform one of their newer tracks, “Modern Man.” Despite the big sound and production of the song on the record, it sounded meaty and fully-formed live. The unique experience of seeing a two-man band like Death From Above 1979 live is that the music never really feels constrained by only two of them; the music feels so much bigger than the drums and bass alone. And that’s no more clear than on their last single, “One + One,” a beautifully-layered garage rock anthem reminiscent of the early Strokes sound with a heavier emphasis on bass.
Fans of DFA’s breakout debut record would surely find themselves at home in the band’s newer tracks; the career-spanning setlist beautifully combined old with new in a way that felt refreshing and impressive. But before the band went too far back in their catalog, Jordan Billie of the Blood Brothers came out to join the band for vocals on “Totally Wiped Out,” a guest appearance he also makes on the studio version of the song.
The band later decided to change up things yet again when Sebastien came out from behind his drum kit to perform a more stripped-back version of “Love Letter.” This rendition felt reminiscent of “Love Letter (At Home),” which the band released on YouTube earlier this year, and shows off the gentler, more vulnerable edges to DFA.
Closing the show with two big throwback ragers, “Dead Womb” and “Pull Out,” Death From Above 1979’s encore certainly reminded the crowd that not only do the Canadian rockers still know how to put on a great show, but they’ve grown a lot musically over the last two decades. Even with the music landscape and world changing as much as it is, bands like DFA remind us that we’ll always have solid rock music and can look forward to how that music will evolve in the future. For now, we can rely on them for a good old fashioned rock show.
Death from Above 1979 Setlist (via setlist.fm):
Modern Guy
One + One
Virgins
Turn It Out
Caught Up
Free Animal
Totally Wiped Out (with Jordan Blilie)
Nomad
Crystal Ball
Little Girl
White Is Red
N.Y.C. Power Elite Part I
N.Y.C. Power Elite Part II
Freeze Me
Going Steady
Blood on Our Hands
Black History Month
Love Letter
Trainwreck 1979
Romantic Rights
Government Trash
