The DMA’s
DMAs stormed Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse on Thursday night, Getintothis’ Conor Mooney was there to see them play their biggest headline show yet in their home away from home.
Since releasing their second album For Now earlier this year, Sydney’s DMAs have solidified their position as Australia’s answer to Britpop, re-worked for a generation who have grown up wishing they were old enough to have seen the likes of Oasis in their day.
And just like the local legends, who have had a considerable impact on the three-piece (as they told us in a recent interview) they seem perfectly at home in this huge, sold-out Manchester venue.
It was a night of pyrotechnics, people on shoulders, pints in the air and powerful arm in arm singalongs as the Aussie threesome and their live band brought vibrancy, energy and warmth to a moody December night in Manchester.
The fact they only have two albums didn’t hinder the set at all, as every song they played was a hit with fans, who love their albums just as much as any of the singles.
Opening with the wilfully energetic Play It Out, closing track from 2016 debut album Hills End, they led the crowd effortlessly on a journey from melancholic yearning through to Friday night mayhem and right back down again more than once.
Between both albums, they were able to play all the fan favourites, with Melbourne from the first, a particular highlight, along with Time & Money from 2018 album For Now.
They had Manchester in the palm of their hands. Every single person knew every single word, and the atmosphere was euphoric, and this was galvanized by the impressive light shows both on and off the stage.
Everyone in the crowd seemed to have brought a pyro, and they were set off so often that it wasn’t long before security gave up all attempts to stop them in the chaos of the crowd.
Fucking quality pic.twitter.com/GxYNmQ4e9J
— jordan mattinson (@jordanmattinso7) December 14, 2018
The standout moments, though, came when the culmination of their distinctive blend of delicate moments which build up to huge, emotional, choruses was most powerful.
In songs like Step Up The Morphine and Delete, which epitomise the band in this way, the response is spine-tingling.
These are the band’s trademark, and the jubilant scenes in this Manchester warehouse reflected that brilliantly.
Saving the best til last, they ended the night on a high with Lay Down, perhaps their most aggressive, in your face, rock n roll song which certainly deserves its Oasis comparisons.
— susan (@suelunn4) December 14, 2018
After returning back home to Australia, where they’ll play a string of festival dates over the new year period, DMAs are set to return to Manchester in July, where they’ll play on the bill alongside two titans of the city in James and The Courteeners, at the latter’s Heaton Park homecoming.
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