Dance With the Dead @ Rock City, Nottingham

Posted: Fri, Feb 22, 2019
Last updated: Sat, Feb 23, 2019

This one was in ‘The Basement’ of Rock City, which is like a wee club area that can probably hold a about 200 tops that’s behind the main venue. I came into this one feeling like shit warmed up. I’d been doing 10 hour, no-break days at work all this week and it was fucking getting to me. After being overcharged slightly for a drink I nearly walked my arse home there and then. I was not feeling it.

That was until the first act came on, LeBrock. It should be noted I did not know who they were, and I had only passing knowledge of Dance With The Dead after hearing That House on a retrowave YouTube channel. I’m practically going in cold.

LeBrock were fucking great. Unbelievably good. The singer had so much passion and power in his voice when he was singing it was impossible not to enjoy it. This band (well, duo) were like an 80s-throwback electronic moment. They had that neon pink and blue grid-pattern look that is everywhere right now animated on the screen behind them. Really fun set.

Dance With The Dead came on shortly after, and again it was a duo. They did not have a vocalist, instead they were two dudes on guitars with an electronic backing track. Some way into their set one, then both of them, transferred to keyboards for a few songs before they both ended on guitar again.

Their set was really, really good. Like an EBM Animals as Leaders. Considering I missed Animals as Leaders playing like 5 years ago because I was a little bitch that couldn’t handle going to a gig alone, I feel I got closure here. There were two remixes - one was of Metallica’s Master of Puppets which… this was a boot for me, but that’s because Metallica are shit. You can’t polish a turd. The other was a remix of Mötley Crüe’s Kickstart My Heart, an absolute classic that I haven’t heard in a good while. That remix was really damn good.

One thing was that the set felt like it went on for hours and hours when really it probably clocked in at about 55 minutes. I think it was because there were no breaks. Each song went into the next and there was little to no interaction with the crowd. One of the guys yelled “Yeah!” at the end of their set before they both left the stage, and that was it. No encore, no nothing. This isn’t even a criticism, it was just different. I wasn’t exepcting it. It might’ve dragged on for a bit because I’m still dog-tired, even if the current adrenaline coursing through me is trying really hard to mask it.

I had no cash on me and was not about to use the cash machine in the venue which wanted to charge me £2 for a withdrawal. Also, the merch was not my style. It felt very… Blood on the Dancefloor. Very scene kid. I can’t sport that look, I’m sorry. If they come around again and I’m carrying a few coins, I’ll get a poster or something.

Oh, and all of their t-shirts at the merch booth were packaged. You would buy a shirt and it would be in plastic packaging, the same way they are in the shops when you get those pyjama sets folded up in a wrapper. Normally there’s just old boxes stuffed with shirts that smell a bit musty when you get one, and the print is more often than not slightly off-centre but you buy and proudly wear that shit anyway. I have never in my life seen such cleanliness, precision, attention to detail, and dedication to tour merch. This was professional as hell.