With minimal equipment on stage conversations amongst the audience soon led to the distinct lack of a drum kit (due to Zach Hill’s absence), resulting in Death Grips being down to just the two members for their UK tour.
The much talked about visual drumming style of Zach Hill may have been missing in Death Grips performance but Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett still kept the Brighton crowd bouncing – although his punk rock delivery is more an angry hype MC than that of the next Chuck D or KRS One.
Brighton has many great venues, and the Coalition is no exception, the sound system was fantastic and you could really feel the bass coming from the stage. The only downside being the visibility, at times feeling as though you were at a club night rather than a live gig meaning you couldn’t really see what Andy Morin behind his desk… or at least not from where we were standing, although you could certainly hear it as Death Grips blasted through their hour long set.
The relentlessness of it all was very in your face, non-stop and certainly full on as there wasn’t any room for in-between song banter with one track leading directly into the next, and then it was over. No encore, no thank you, we were just left holding our ears together. Now on paper this would sound like an ideal night out (well, for me anyway!), in reality I wasn’t quite feeling it.
Maybe the lack of Zach Hill was the reason why this was a gig of mixed emotions as no matter how good a sound system is you still need to enjoy what’s coming out of it, but having said that I always love road trips to Brighton and with the early finish there was plenty of time for a beer or two before the journey back to Portsmouth.
