Review: Pendulum at RAC Arena

Pendulum at RAC Arena
w/ ShockOne
Sunday, October 8, 2023

After releasing their first album Hold Your Colour in 2005, Pendulum quickly became known for their unique sound of heavy drum and bass. By their second album In Silico in 2008, they had become one of the world’s biggest electronic acts. Originally from Perth, the lads relocated to London in the early 2000s. Now back in town to reunite with old friend ShockOne, the night was set to be a huge hometown return and celebration of world-class dance music.

Long-time pal of Pendulum, Karl Thomas, aka ShockOne, had the honours of warming up the already close-to-capacity ground-floor arena crowd with a non-stop set of fast-paced drum and bass. It was evident from the movement on the floor that the crowd was full of energy and pumped up to dance. A sweet moment was when Thomas invited his young daughter out on stage to hit play on the last track and dance on stage next to him, closing out the set with his big hit Follow Me.

As purple light faded in, bassy throat chanting came across the PA to signal the entrance for Pendulum. Lovers of bass, the low tones of the chanting rumbled the PA showing the deep power and bottom end that the human voice can create. The band took to the stage and went into Driver, which fell short of a big opener and after what seemed to be a false start, the band found their groove.

Pendulum singer Rob Swire taunted the crowd saying “Last night in Melbourne was better than you guys, we can’t have that in our hometown, you’re going to have to go a little harder! This might help,” as they punched into In Silico favourite Propane Nightmares.

It took a little while for the band's sound to settle, as though something was a little off in the mix. Lead singer Rob Swire's vocals were clear and present but the rest of the band seemed to lack clarity and volume, especially the drums. Not something you’d expect from a band that are known as masters of production, but this is usually the way when sound engineers are finding their feet early in the set.

Sound concerns were dashed by the third song Come Alive which sounded absolutely huge, with bass player Gareth McGrillen counting in the crowd for the big drop. McGrillen took on the role of “vibe man” in place of former member Benjamin Mount, commanding the crowd to sway their arms left to right, get low and “put your hands up!” throughout the set, and the crowd were in the palm of his hand.

By the fourth song Blood Sugar the performance was up to the expected level, with Swire dominating the lead synth on the stage right riser and guitar and bass coming forth to the front of the stage. Swire dropped in the lead line from Prodigy's Voodoo People as things were kicking into full gear.

Next came an unreleased track Guiding Lights. “Have you ever had a friend that turned out to be a complete c*nt? This is about that guy.”

Swire and McGrillen were engaging but didn't have to try hard to rouse the energy for In Silico's Granite. For a Sunday night it was surprising to see how receptive and animated the crowd were. The fan favourite was followed by recently-released track, Colourfast.

“We’ve been listening to too much metal lately, and not enough drum and bass – and it hasn’t helped meeting Matt Tuck from Bullet For My Valentine” Swire joked as they went into Halo featuring Tuck's vocals on the backing track.

From here on in it was wall-to-wall bangers with Showdown, Self Vs Self and their most recognised track, Tarantula.

The lights went dark and the band left the stage, but of course, the crowd wanted more and it wasn't long before Pendulum re-emerged for the classic ABC News Theme which had to have the fattest drop of the night.

“You know how many people we had at our last show before we moved London? Eight people. Now look at tonight! This will be the last one for us, thank you!” Swire said as they closed with Immersion's lead single Watercolour.

Pendulum delivered a tight high-energy set that encompassed the best of their repertoire from unreleased tracks and recently released tracks to the big favourites from every one of their albums. The audience gave that high energy right back to the band, moving and jumping from the front rows all the way to the back of the arena, with people even standing and dancing in the stalls. 

It was clear some didn't want the party to end, with most of the GA section even sticking around after the show to dance to the house music of Farnsey's The Voice drum and bass remix.

ANTHONY JACKSON

Photos by Paul Dowd