A one-off, completely sold out, hometown show celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut album ‘Hills End’, performing it front to back (including tracks that had never been played live) plus a run through fan favourites from across their whole catalogue. That’s what DMA’s were up to on Friday night.
If you don’t know the DMA’s story, here’s the short version: three friends from Sydney. Johnny Took, Tommy O’Dell and Matt Mason. Took had been playing in a psych band with O’Dell, and the origin of the whole thing is almost unoriginal. Most of ‘Hills End’ was recorded in an inner-west bedroom, which tells you everything about where the band were at, and also explains a lot about what makes the album feel the way it does.
‘Hills End’ dropped on February 26, 2016. It debuted at number eight on the ARIA Albums Chart and also charted in the UK and the Netherlands, eventually receiving BRIT Certified Breakthrough status. Not bad for a bedroom record.
The twelve tracks on it read like a setlist to die for: ‘Timeless’, ‘Lay Down’, ‘Delete’, ‘Too Soon’, ‘In The Moment’, ‘Step Up The Morphine’, ‘So We Know’, ‘Melbourne’, ‘Straight Dimensions’, ‘Blown Away’, ‘The Switch’, and ‘Play It Out’. Every single one of them earns its spot.
Songs like ‘Delete’, ‘Lay Down’, ‘Too Soon’ and ‘Step Up The Morphine’ became cornerstones of the band’s live set, and over time, touchstones for a generation raised on emotionally charged, guitar-driven Australian rock.
At Metro Theatre, they didn’t overplay the history of it all, but it sat there anyway. The jangly, almost-bright guitars brushing up against the heavier undercarriage, the kind of songwriting that feels distinctly Sydney (dare I say). You can trace the inspiration lineage if you want, The Go-Betweens, Paul Kelly, even the unavoidable Oasis comparisons, but live, it reads simpler than that. It just sounds like them. Took and Mason push the choruses wide, Tommy sits right on top of it, and the crowd does the rest.
It was a completely unforgettable night, a rare gem.
