Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Sunday June 10, 2018 :
I first became aware of DMA’s back in 2014. I’d made the trip from Newcastle down to Sydney’s inner west to cover The Vines’ ‘comeback’ gig for this very publication. Standing in the car park of the Vic on the Park in the October sunshine, three guys took to the stage. They looked like they’d just stepped off the street – trackies and lad caps – but they had a fervent following from locals in the crowd. I was intrigued before they’d played their first track of what would be a bloody impressive support set. I remember being blown away by how the crowd reacted to them, by the front man’s stunning voice, their quiet yet powerful presence on stage and, of course their unashamedly Brit-pop sound. Flash forward a couple of years, the next I see this shy Sydney trio is on the main stage at Splendour, with a hit debut album in tow. They may have been making their mark in the UK by this point, but they were struggling to fill the kind of stages their following now demanded of them.
A couple more years takes us to this weekend’s shows at the Enmore, a homecoming for the boys after a mammoth few months touring their latest release, For Now, across UK, Europe and Australia. Sunday night was the first of two sold out shows capping off a sold out Australian tour.
In much the same way that DMA’s blew my socks off as supports for The Vines back in the day, Hatchie, the Brisbane singer-songwriter who’s been accompanying the lads across the nation, also impressed. Hatchie, or Hariette Pilbeam, flanked by a three-piece band, shone with her unique and dreamy pop sounds – with Cranberries-like vocals and bright, Cure-like guitars, she was an absolute delight.
It was soon time for the main event and DMA’s were summoned to the stage amid a chorus of classic football chants. With their touring band mates picking up the rhythm guitar, bass and drums duties, Matt, Tommy and Johnny threw themselves into the night with a throwback to their first release with ‘Feels Like 37’. With the guitarists each playing up to the raucous crowd and Tommy jangling his way across the stage, tambourine in hand, they powered through a bunch of tracks straight out of the gate, including the title track from the new record, and ‘Melbourne’ and ‘Timeless’ from Hills End, before bringing it back to more recent ground. The emotive ‘In The Air’ was a big favourite for the crowd, while ‘Time and Money’ and ‘Break Us’ gave the guys the chance to show off some of the newer, more sophisticated sounds were starting to here from the band with their most recent release. These were some real standout moments of the night.
As is to be expected, it was a good eight songs in before we got any kind of interaction from the band. A simple “thanks” and “it’s good to be home” from Tommy, then a couple more obligatory “cheers” and “thanks” throughout the set. For me, this is the only flaw in DMA’s performances. A bit of banter to break up the set and allow the crowd to get to know them a bit more wouldn’t go astray at this stage.
The second half of the set bought more golden moments, with the punters joining in with gusto on ‘Step Up the Morphine’, following up strong with arguably their most popular track, ‘Delete’, before capping off the main part of the set in with confident performances of ‘Do I Need You Now?, ‘Dawning’ and ‘Emily Whyte’. The night ended with some DMA’s classics – ‘Play It Out’, ‘In the Moment’ and ‘Lay Down’ – much appreciated by the loyal hometown fans.
Seeing DMA’s on this stage in their careers, you could not have asked for much more. They get the crowd eating out of their hand and they do it pretty much exclusively with the music. No banter, no bravado. DMA’s have a way of drawing you in again and again, and I reckon they’ve still got a lot more to show us.
Reviewer : Amelia Parrott
Photographer : David Youdell
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