Death Grips @ Barrowlands, Glasgow, 31 Aug
When Death Grips are on, they're on; whatever they feel like doing on a given night will always be worth your time
Expectations for a Death Grips show are different from any other in terms of potential set times, audience interaction and song distinction. It's abundantly clear that no-one expects the show to start on time as there is still a queue snaking its way around three walls of the Barrowlands at 8.30pm. There is no support act, not even the occasionally employed Shepard tone, before the trio arrive just after nine.
The opening Charles Manson monologue of Beware provides the first barrier to deconstruct and from there the energy barely flags for a moment. Across a fluid hour or so the band manage to pack in about 20 songs taken evenly from all of their releases (with only two tracks from June's Year of the Snitch), attempting mad transitions from song to song without a second for breath. Similarly, the crowd mostly operates in continuous flux, moving like a school of fish around the Barras dancefloor, only occasionally bulging out and reconfiguring to make space for a new pit.
Zach Hill is typically relentless on the drums while MC Ride contorts, fist pumps and generally bounces around the strobe-lit stage. Along with Andy Morin's work behind the decks they work the room into a palpable frenzy. Get Got and Death Grips is Online are early highlights, but the barrage of noise style of their delivery makes the first half a fairly homogenous gloop. Musically, the show really hits its stride in the second half, starting with Guillotine and working through I've Seen Footage, Giving Bad People Good Ideas and The Fever (Aye Aye) all the way to a climactic No Love to cap things off.
Though there's a certain amount of showmanship in the lack of direct interaction, the fake-out arrivals and the abrupt no encore – and no fucks given – ending, it still feels like it's over in a flash. The moments of levity and nuance that can be found on record are absent in the live setting, for better or worse, adding to the raw, ephemeral nature of the performance. Maintaining such intensity for an hour is a feat in itself, but some of the musical skill is lost or indistinguishable in the mania. However, when they're on, they're on. Whatever Death Grips feel like doing on a given night will always be worth your time.