The Verse’s Alex Berdugo reviews DMAs at Brighton Centre on 25th November 2017.
DMAs are an Australian rock group that simply drip attitude. Strolling on as a six-piece, they dominated the stage with their rock n’ roll aura. Consisting of more guitars than any band needs (two electric guitar players, one acoustic and one bassist) they began to blast out a wall of sound. Opening with hit track Play It Out, the crowd showed love for the support, so much so that they could have been the headliners.
Drummer Liam demonstrated great passion behind his kit, executing his grooves and fills with a flourish. Matt Mason remained cool while playing his lead guitar lines. With each solo, he would remain stony-faced and stare into the crowd in an almost comical fashion. The guitar lines were catchy and awe-inspiring, also being very reminiscent of Oasis.
Bassist Crandles supplied a superb assortment of walking bass lines. These provided a solid foundation for the songs and gave an audience a musical punch in the face. The rhythm of the tunes went hand in hand with the light show; each flash was perfectly coordinated with the hitting of a snare or the strumming of a power chord.
The songs written by the DMAs are fantastically diverse. All the tracks contain a variety of guitar tones and vocal melodies, making them incredibly interesting to listen to live. None of the songs sounded overly similar, and acoustic breaks were ideal to divide their set and keep the crowd on their toes.
The set consisted of all of their biggest songs, including ballad Step Up The Morphine. This proved itself to be a solid crowd singalong song, demonstrating once again that the band’s days as a support act are numbered. They even played a new song that caught everyone by surprise. It was a quintessential DMAs tune, full of disarming melodies and singing guitar harmonies. This gives me great hope for their future album release because there are obviously consistently strong songwriters.
The highlight of their set was the live performance of Delete. Most band members left the stage to give more focus to singer Tommy O’Dell acoustic guitarist Johnny Took. The lyrics reverberated around the Brighton Centre as the crowd sang their heart out to the chorus. The atmosphere was full of electricity and was goosebump-inducing. Delete was the best way for DMAs to close their set, setting the bar very high for The Kooks later that evening.
DMAs have shown time and time again their thirst for taking over the world. Being so popular in the UK despite originating from Australia is an indication of their potential. We wait with bated breath for their second album, and don’t miss DMAs in their next live performance!
