Album Review

Pendulum – Live at Brixton Academy

• 1st Jul 2009

In the web 2.0 era, it’ arguable that the live album is becoming a redundant form; why fork out for second-hand live performances you can catch free-and legally-online? If this is the twilight of the format though, it’s pleasing to see Pendulum making a good stab at it with this CD/DVD set from a recent, needless to say sold-out, Brixton Academy show.

Pendulum’s live show has long been the subject of glowing reviews, and from the outset of the DVD it’s evident why. MC Verse whips the crowd into a frenzy before the outfit launch into ‘Showdown’, one of many high-energy numbers in a set stuffed with the best parts of their work to date. The band combine the psychedelic appeal of a floor filling dance act with the presence of a tight rock band (there’s even a bit of a Metallica cover tossed in for good measure), to the extent that the crowd alternate between frenzied dancing and all-out moshing. They look to be having a pretty good time either way.

The cinematography does its bit to capture the mania of the show, never staying still and employing every trick going to offer a disorientating display of the performance and the hedonistic goings-on amongst the youthful audience. It lends itself well to the band’s sound and adds to an experience a traditional concert film approach would simply record.

The accompanying CD is a bog-standard audio-only account of the same gig, bar a few tracks, but the sound quality of the performance is such that it’s well worth a listen when the eyes are otherwise engaged. The package as a whole is a thrilling attempt to convey the essence of a superlative live band, neatly executed and sure to get new fans wanting some of the action.