The Districts Live; Nothing Short Of Brilliant
Published
Sounding as rough and as ragged as they look, The Districts are a group that are the perfect visual embodiment of their music.
There are no pretences - it’s as scruffy and loud as possible. If dogs look like their owners, then something similar is to surely be applicable to rock bands and the music they create.
With a live reputation that precedes them, after seeing The Districts’ show at the Scala touring their debut album 'A Flourish and A Spoil', I can only say that it’s justified. The Philadelphia four-piece are a perfectly awkward cohesion of blues and grunge, with their distorted interludes effortlessly linking poetic tracks such as ‘Lyla’ and ‘Long Distance’.
As the band stumbled about the stage behind hunched frontman Rob Grote, the crowd reacted perfectly to each of the thirteen tracks. Mosh pits dominated the floor when raucous songs were played (notably ‘4th and Roebling’), with absolute silence conjured during the quieter numbers. You could quite literally hear cans of Red Stripe hit the floor as Grote took to the stage alone to perform ‘6am’.
Occasionally the vocals seemed strained against the reverb echoing around the high-ceilinged venue, but more-often-than-not they were immaculate. ‘Peaches’ was a particular standout, and even though closer ‘Young Blood’ was dragged out for too long, the gig was nothing short of brilliant.
The group’s youth is as impressive as it is demoralizing, but their talent falls only within the former category. Their album is outstanding, and their live show even better.
For everything The Districtsclick here. Words by Luke Forshaw
