GIG: Pendulum - Brixton Academy, 4th December

‘Doo-doo-doo-dooooooo-doo-deee-doo-doooo-doo-daaa…’

‘What one’s that?’

‘Errr… dunno.’

It’s true. Pendulum riffs all sound the fucking same. But this isn’t supposed to be particularly cerebral music, and was never intended to be: it’s an amalgamation of metal guitars and drum n’ bass blast-beats, for heaven’s sake. But that does mean one thing: it’s damned fun music.

This isn’t the first time Pendulum have played Brixton: they performed a two-night stint back in May, and are now gracing the theatre one more time this year. It’s really a shame that InMe had problems getting to the venue tonight (or whatever other obscure reason), and South Central take their place. As DJs they should be ashamed; their mixes are badly thought-out, and nothing really cuts through the messy noise. The entire set’s momentum reminds me of fifty spinning plates – some are managed to be kept up, but most just smash on the ground into little pieces. Yeah, something like that.

Nonetheless, the crowd seem to love it. That’s probably because ninety percent of them are all young scene hipsters, some sporting glow sticks, some just here for the phad of Pendulum and not really the music itself. The other ten percent are chavs, pushing me about on their way past because they’re chavvy little chavs. At least they’re all up for it though, which sure beats a static crowd.

Of course there’s a rapturous greeting for Pendulum when they rocket straight into Showdown, followed by Fasten Your Seatbelt. And that is what they are: a band. Live guitars, basses, drums, vocals, even the synths. Of course there are samples, but really they have the same sonic get-up as a 2003 – 2004 era Muse concert. And they sound great.

After being treated to rocking performances of Blood Sugar, Propane Nightmares and 9000 Miles, it goes up a notch with the truly brilliant Hold Your Colour – probably the most tasteful song they’ve ever done. But that’s all shattered when Rob Swire and his merry band unleash a little bit of hell with a monstrous cover of Master Of Puppets (well, the first two minutes at least). A sly segue-way into university classic Slam cements their live reputation of being rather unpredictable.

Ben ‘the Verse’ Mount does a great job of getting the audience going and staying at fever pitch. While he comes off as a loud arrogant chav, without him a Pendulum show wouldn’t be half as good. I wouldn’t be caught in some of the worst crowd surges of my life, and thrown into sweat-drenched mosh pits. Hell, if you left the crowd participation up to any of the other members, it would be a rather silent and uninvolving night. So yeah, ‘open up those circles!’ Do what the scary man says.

(A moment for the mosh pits, please: if you’re going to be part of one, do it to the music. The whole premise of a mosh is destroyed if you open up the pit, but then start going crazy way before the mental part actually kicks in. It’s doubly aggravating when you orchestrate one yourself. Ahem.)

The atmosphere intensifies tenfold for the encore, when everyone realises that the sound currently hitting them in face is Tarantula. Cue a sheer uncultivated and untamed response from everyone watching, in the form of… well, just going fucking spastic. Granite wraps things up with its usual riff-tastic heaviness, and I’m just about to leave when they arrive back on stage, and announce the first live outing of the next tune. It happens to be The Tempest. After being amazed yet another time, satisfaction drips down my face along with the globules of sweat.

These guys can only get bigger if they play their cards right. More music to let loose to, and not have a worry in the world. And who knows? Maybe they’ll follow in the footsteps of The Prodigy and play Wembley someday. Nevermind if it’s still ‘doooo-dooo-deee-dooo-daaaaa’: I’ll be there in a flash.

Overall – 8.5 / 10