By the time DMA’S walked on at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, the room was so expectant it felt seconds away from frustration. This was the 10th anniversary run for Hill’s End, a record that, probably for most of us here, soundtracked our late teens and early twenties.
And they really didn’t ease into it. ‘Timeless’ came in hard, with loud but clean guitars, Tommy’s voice right on top of the mix- no warm-up, no messing about.
One thing that you couldn’t ignore was the lighting. It was intense to the point of being distracting; bright white beams firing straight into the crowd, sometimes so bright you could barely make out the band. With ‘The Switch’ and ‘Play It Out’, I caught myself squinting instead of watching. It gave the show the desired edge but at times it did feel excessive (a couple next to me said as much too, holding their hands over their eyes at times and laughing).
Sound wise, though, the boys were locked in. The mix was sharp and balanced, plus the live versions stuck close to the recordings which is always satisfying. ‘Lay Down’ had its familiar shimmer, ‘Delete’ hit just how you’d want it to, none of the crowd missing a beat.
You could really feel how much these songs mean to a UK crowd. Tommy made a point of saying they recognised faces from early tours and thanked everyone for sticking with them. It sounded properly genuine and not just routine tour talk. He even handed a tambourine to a fan holding up a sign.
Admittedly, not everything landed cleanly. ‘Blown Away’ had to be restarted after the first line, with Tommy admitting they hadn’t rehearsed it enough. It was indeed awkward and knocked the momentum sideways for a minute, but to their credit they reset and played it properly the second time. A reminder that anniversary tours can’t run on nostalgia alone!
The encore lifted things again. ‘Silver’ and ‘Tape Deck Sick’ had bit, and ‘Hello Girlfriend’ stretched out at the end, looser and less rigid than much of the main set. That was when they sounded most alive, slightly rougher round the edges.
DMA’S had to add extra UK dates due to demand on this tour, and you could see why. There’s still a committed audience here. But if they want this second decade to feel as vital as the first, they might need to let these songs breathe a bit more, and trust them to survive without the glaring light display.
Photo credit: Alice Backham
