Australian indie rockers DMA’s visited Manchester’s iconic 02 Apollo as part of their tour of their fourth studio album How Many Dreams?. Despite being halfway round the world from their native town of Sydney, the energy around the famed venue was that of a hometown gig, with the three-piece having cited influences such as New Order and Manchester’s many Britpop bands. Even Courteeners’ legendary frontman (and 0161 local boy) Liam Fray describes DMA’S as “adopted mancs”.
On a tour that includes Wembley Arena, DMA’s proved they belong on the big stage instantly, with the title track from their latest album sending ripples round the room as the setlist followed the How Many Dreams? tracklist. Lead guitarist Matt Mason flaunts his talent in the electric riff of ‘Olympia’, before exploding into fan favourite ‘Silver’. After coming out the gate like a prize racehorse, the set hits somewhat of a lull, as the guitars took a backseat for the electro pop beat of DMA’S latest single ‘Something We Are Overcoming’, and the more restrained and laid-back ‘Tape Deck Sick’.
Just as it starts to feel like the gigs energy was ebbing away, ‘Fading Like A Picture’ hits like a slap in the face, a song that truly encapsulates where the band are now, incorporating the mega riffs of old with the electronic sound of new. It is a song made for the arena stages the Sydney boys have now graduated to. ‘Hello Girlfriend’’s outro was repeated over and over, Tommy O’Dell’s words of ‘Such a funny thing for me try to explain’ had the entire Apollo singing in full voice, as the party atmosphere blossomed in the historic venue.
DMA’S went on to pull out all the stops to wrap up the set, as classics and crowd pleasers kept on coming, the mosh pits stopped. Nobody missed a word of the first ever DMA’S song ‘Delete’, before the fire was relit and the party back in full swing for ‘Play It Out’ and ‘Lay Down’ to finish. Or at least, what was thought to be the finish, with the band having played all their biggest hits, many turned for the door. But the lights stayed down, and after a brief break, much to my surprise DMA’s returned to the stage for an encore which consisted of the dreary ‘Blown Away’, and ‘Laced’, and ‘Feels Like 37’, clearly made for the long-time, hardcore fans. Finally, the set was wrapped up with the first single of the latest album ‘Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s the Weekend’, which was strong, but certainly not strong enough to close a set brimming with such well loved hits.
The Aussie rockers somewhat kept themselves to themselves on stage, not indulging in crowd interactions all too much, but that didn’t seem to matter because the music does plenty of talking. In my opinion, though, DMA’s should certainly have quit while they were ahead however; the main set was electric, and the crowd was wrapped around their fingers throughout. The encore, however, was very much a damp squib. It had very good tunes, but they felt out of place, leaving the setlist feeling more like a playlist on shuffle.
