Live Review: Deap Vally

Two venue changes, problems with tickets and a mile long queue couldn’t dampen the spirits at female rock duo, Deap Vally’s first solo gig in Newcastle. Kicking off the evening’s proceedings were two astounding supporting acts. WTCHRS resembled the sounds of Nirvana, the Maccabees and Foals all rolled into the one and nicely warmed up the crowd before the slightly heavier band, New York-originating Skaters took to the small stage.

A crowd of no more than 250 music lovers crowded the intimate venue and showed Deap Vally what a Newcastle date is all about. At quarter to ten, Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards graced the stage and were greeted by screaming fans and lights blinding enough for the lead singer to complain about them! Deap Vally unexpectedly started their set with album track “Raw Material” which only the true, die-hard fans knew every lyric of. Even though 90% of the crowd didn’t know the words, they screamed along anyway and had the duo beaming on stage.

Troy and Edwards banged through their set with heavy drum beats and slashing guitar solos whilst the audience ate up every last note. Troy’s vocal range astounded fans as they progressed through their set list, a mix between the bands more well-known tracks such as “Gonna Make My Own Money” and “Lies” to more songs they kept on the down low like “Ain’t Fair” and “Creeplife.” At one point, Troy even crowd surfed as the audience continued to dance and scream. Lindsey had them hanging off her every word. Edwards was not left behind though, amusing the audience with her witty remarks between tracks and owning the drum solos as if she were the only one on stage.

Intimate gigs like this seem the perfect place for bands like Deap Vally to really interact with their fans and there is no way, after a show as memorable as this, their fan base won’t have grown. The girls left the stage after “End of the World”, which most are familiar with because of its recent appearance on an E4 advert, and left the audience hanging a tad. Of course they returned to smash up the stage one last time with “Baby I Can Hell”, a track with a beat so catchy you have to sing along even if you don’t know the words. Deap Vally have certainly left their mark on Newcastle and if they continue touring like this, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be global icons in 2014.