Absolutely thrilled to catch the mighty Dead Freights again at Troubadour in London last night: a cellar venue that felt well served as a den of iniquity. These Southampton lads have built up a deserved reputation over the past few years for their wild, riotous live sets with their incredibly mad eclectic, almost to the point of schizophrenic, sound. And last night was no exception.
Set opener, Shot Girl Summer, really set the pace for what was to come. Blistering fuzzed up guitar stabs, menacing bass, and raucous drumming. What sounded like a Franz Ferdinand groove to this track segued into a Nirvana or even Sabbath style breakdown. Much more in your face and beast like than you would expect from the studio version. It worked an absolute treat.
Among the highlights of the set was frontman Charlie’s solo spot for one of their best tracks, Who Said Scared? He really was the troubadour accompanied only by his electric guitar and in full eyeliner, his vocal was eerily haunting. He has definitely taken much inspiration from his mentors, The Libertines. This was also seen from his wild onstage chemistry at various points with lead guitarist, Robert, which was reminiscent of Pete and Carl.
Towards the end of the set, another huge highlight was their track Batman, which reimagined the superhero theme as a punked up thriller. Dan gave a full throttle commanding performance of the original bass line as the undercurrent to the track. Louis on drums whose heavy rhythmic attack had created a thunderous energy to every track was also particularly impressive on this one.
Dead Freights are finalising a debut album which they tell me should be ready for release within the next few months. From last night’s evidence, it will be an absolute corker!
Photo and Words Credit – Stephen Lovell
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