Death Grips @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 21 Jun
Although a muddy sound mix hampers the clarity of tonight's performance, the crowd is unequivocally on Death Grips' side and the show carries a palpable catharsis
The atmosphere in Barrowland Ballroom crackles while we wait for Death Grips. The energy erupts when they take the stage and launch into their set. In-between shoulders and elbows, we see flashes of MC Ride's torso, lit from behind by a wash of red. He stands as far downstage as he can, leaning forward over the pit. Raising his arms, MC Ride works the crowd into a frenzy. His confrontational physicality feeds the music – for much of the show, there is no front light, and Ride is hardly more than a red silhouette.
Our attention is turned most frequently to the crowd, which brings the energy in fits and starts. It's a lot of sweat for a Wednesday night, but time seems irrelevant during Death Grips' continuous set as songs bleed together in new arrangements. There is neither banter nor encore. The setlist includes a healthy mix of songs from Death Grips' discography, including crowd favourite Guillotine and wildcard Have A Sad Cum BB, the expert running order allowing the energy in the crowd to continue escalating.
Image: Death Grips by Marilena Vlachopoulou
On a whole, the show is pure sound, light, and energy. To some, it may lack the parasocial aspect of live performance that audiences have come to expect. There's no "Hello, Glasgow", or "This next song is about...", but the uninterrupted pace allows us to be carried away from what feels more and more like the end of the world. Simultaneously an escape and an outlet, the music invites us to scream – it demands it. In person, Death Grips amplify the mood of their music as stunning musicianship coalesces with sparse design to create an all-encompassing experience.
However, muddy sound mixing hampers the clarity of the performance. The complex accompaniment for which Death Grips is celebrated is sometimes lost in the scuffle. But when they are foregrounded, the instrumentals are top tier. Zach Hill and Andy Morin are absolute masters of noise. In combination, the balance of musical threads is somewhat off-kilter, and it's sometimes difficult to initially tell which song we're hearing. Even so, the crowd is unequivocally on Death Grips' side and the show carries a palpable catharsis that does not disappoint.