DIIV brought its eclectic tour to the House of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, Florida on July 20th. The show started with two subdued acts and ended with a surprisingly rocking set.
Long Beach sextet Dutch Interior opened with a 30-minute set of soothing Americana. Most songs were played in a whisper, with sparse instrumentation emphasizing each strum, picked note, and lyric. Five band members—everyone but the drummer—took turns on lead vocals. The quiet, introspective “Pandemonium of Parrots” was a highlight early in the set. After a handful of calm, stripped-down music, Dutch Interior ended their set with two upbeat rock songs, including the slow-building “Cannibal Song,” and finished with a wall of distorted feedback. After so many mellow songs to start their performance, playing two loud songs at the end was jarring.
Like Dutch Interior, Horse Jumper of Love’s 40-minute set was primarily soft, with a few intense moments. The Boston band played two new songs in a performance firmly rooted in slowcore. Guitarist Dimitri Giannopoulos sang soft, emotional lyrics through gritted teeth while the band played slow, solemn melodies. The deliberate arpeggios of “Spaceman” and “Ugly Brunette” showcased the brooding side of the band. Several times, the band kicked into a more rocking attitude with songs that seemed even heavier by contrast, such as the crunchy “Snow Angel” and the midtempo fuzzy rock of “Wink.”
Giannopoulos spoke softly when bantering with the crowd. “Did you know there’s a drone show later?” he asked, referring to the Disney Springs show that uses 800 light-up drones to form Disney characters choreographed to music. “I thought maybe Disney was experimenting with harsh noise,” he joked.
Horse Jumper of Love closed the set with a performance of “Dirt” that contrasted delicate choruses with a trudging rock bridge.
While roadies set up the stage for the final act, creepy ambient music and consuming fog gave a haunted house vibe. An intentionally awkward video introduced DIIV, stating that attending this concert would be a life-changing experience. From the first notes of “In Amber,” it was clear that the Brooklyn quartet would deliver a different atmosphere from the first two bands.
DIIV played with more energy live than on its recordings. The music was loud, the distorted guitars washed together, and nearly every song had a high-octane energy. The band was backlit and smothered in fog and, as a result, was usually only seen in silhouette.
Bassist Colin Caulfield thrashed about the stage while playing highly danceable grooves with a pick while drummer Ben Newman pounded out propulsive rhythms. Andrew Bailey paced the stage and attacked his guitar with ferocity. Singer Zachary Cole Smith, in contrast, was mostly stoic, standing in the shadows and playing his high-slung guitar with minimal movement.
A mosh pit formed as soon as Caulfield played the driving bass intro to “Doused.” The crunchy guitars and aggressive rhythms of songs like “Reflected” and “Taker” got the crowd’s heads banging. These songs might not sound heavy on DIIV’s albums, but they’re much more powerful live.
One complaint about DIIV is that there isn’t much variety. The first few songs showed what the entire show would be like. But it was a great show for anyone into rumbling bass, loud, droning guitars, and jangling melodies soaked in chorus and reverb effects.
Songs like “Somber the Drums” and “Blankenship” showed the band’s aggressive side—with the latter starting another mosh pit—while “Skin Game” and “Under the Sun” showcased DIIV’s infectious guitar melodies.
DIIV’s performance was a multimedia experience. Smith’s vocals were buried under the wall of noise and usually unintelligible, so the lyrics were projected onto the screen behind the band. A series of weird, campy videos also interrupted the set several times. The tongue-in-cheek commercials promised fans a fulfilled life if they bought the band’s merch, offered an opportunity for companies or politicians to pay for the band’s endorsement, and then showed the band endorsing Exxon Mobil.
For most of the 90-minute set, no one in the band talked to the crowd. The video commercials served as between-song banter. Then, before closing the regular set with the slow, melodic “Acheron,” Smith talked to the crowd for the first time. After thanking each crew member, he said it’s been a long time since they’ve been in Florida. When Caulfield corrected that they were recently in Tampa, Smith retorted, “That doesn’t count.” He then got in his own joke about the drone show. “Don’t forget, the drone show starts in … damn, you missed it. Sorry.”
For the encore, DIIV returned to the stage for the ballad “Everyone Out” and a frenetic rendition of “Horsehead” that utilized explosive loud/soft dynamics.
From Dutch Interior’s hushed Americana to the subtle slowcore of Horse Jumper of Love to the loud, raucous shoegaze of DIIV, fans at the House of Blues got plenty of quality entertainment even without Disney’s drone show.
