tHe DeViL WeArS pRaDa @ eLeCtRic bRiXtOn

Music Memory Meaning #3

Diving through the surface of the music I’m listening to right now – then down into the depths of the songs that helped me make some sense of this life…

the MUSIC…

The Devils Wears Prada & Novelists & 156/Silence & Oversize
Electric Brixton 23.10.26

Doors may open at 5pm in rainy South London, but it’s worth the early start to see four genuinely exciting bands on one bill. Openers Oversize sound like the kind of shoegazey NME outfit that 90s kids like me grew up watching at the Portsmouth Guildhall. That fact does make them the anomaly this evening, but not to the extent you’d have once thought. The four-piece play the sort of music that’s done such an impressive job of gatecrashing the modern hardcore/metal scene and doesn’t feel as out of place as it once would have. Still, it’s 156/Silence who really take the crowd by the throat. The Pittsburgh collective whip us into a frenzy – and frontman Jack Murray is an understated, but absolute star. Less understated in pink princess dress is Novelists’ singer Camille Contréras! It’s a bold look and yet she and her band put in a performance that’s somehow even more stunning than that outfit. Both mesmerising and monolithic, the French group are on the cusp of something special. Ohio’s The Devil Wears Prada are having a magical moment of their own. Latest record Flowers may be a poppier proposition than their previous releases, but it’s clear from the way the audience sing along to opening tracks Where The Flowers Never Grow and So Low that the love for tonight’s headliners continues to bloom. The Devil Wears Prada might not have become as huge as some of their peers but tonight proves that, two decades on from their debut album, they continue to write music that makes as profound an impact as any of their contemporaries. There are not many bands on the planet who have got so many miles on the clock and yet still sound so relevant and ambitious. It will be intriguing to see where they – and tonight’s supporting cast – go next.

the MEMORY…

Funeral For A Friend & The Used & Killswitch Engage & Rise Against & Story of the Year
Brixton Academy 13.11.05

The Used’s music was never glamorous, but imbued with a Rocky-style sense of possibility, it has always been undeniably glorious. In 2005, the Utah outfit hit London like a hurricane and absolutely tore the roof off Brixton Academy. And they weren’t even headlining! Our favourite emo lunatic, Bert McCrackers McCracken, might have delivered a set for the ages, but it was the incredible Funeral For a Friend at the top of the Taste Of Chaos bill that night. Also performing were Killswitch Engage, Rise Against and Story Of The Year! With two era-defining albums under their belt, The Used might have been in their prime, but so were all of those artists. How lucky we were to see them share one stage.

the MEANING…
See The Best To Be The Best

Some bands might have retreated from the idea of following The Used onto stage on that night more than twenty years ago, but the best artists – those like Funeral For A Friend – won’t be undone by the knowledge that they have to keep raising their game. And, actually, what those people realise is that we become better at whatever we’re doing when surrounded by people who are equally talented and ambitious. Fast forward more than two decades and The Devil Wears Prada echo that same idea. It might be more straightforward to exist within your own, unchallenged space, but when you’re supported by bands as accomplished as Novelists and 156/Silence, you’re forced to battle if you want to remain the centre of attention – and it’s that fight which will elevate your output and make a moment special.

Photo: Marianne Brits Strodl