The Districts - NME Awards Shows at the 100 Club, London 03/02/15

04 February 2015, 14:13 | Written by James Appleyard

(Live)

(The Districts)

It’s easy to be dismissive of bands who first made an impact by being ‘big on the internet’. But when their song “Funeral Beds” rocketed to the heady heights of Reddit last year, it could have easily been the simultaneous starting gun and shot to the head for The Districts. Luckily for us, this has proven to be far from the case.

The type of high octane booze blues in which The Districts specialise proved to be the perfect fit for tonight’s packed out 100 Club, and the band seemed to encapsulate the venue’s unique lineage of rhythm 'n' blues and punk across their whole set. From the start, they established themselves as a tonally acute force and bombarded the eager crowd with their steady mix of ragged rock and blissed out trucker jams. The band performed with a focused maturity that seems all the more surprising given the fact the members are barely out of their teens.

But the stage surely belonged to frontman Rob Grote, who shook like a dishevelled gospel preacher during their elongated rendition of “Long Distance” and managed to channel an astonishing amount of whiskey grit into his delivery, as though he were channeling the ghost of an early Rob Tyner.

Playing this show on the cusp of the release of their first studio album A Flourish And A Spoil, the band raced through a set of mainly new material, but “Funeral Beds” stood as a firm favourite as Grote abandoned his guitar, grabbed the mic and launching into the front row before ending the set with rowdy relish by way of album opener “4th & Roebling” coupled with a feedback laden send-off of “Young Blood” which saw the frenzied front row nearly ignite a stage invasion.

Tonight it was clear that The Districts harbour an energy that packs a sucker punch of youthful exuberance and are capable of delivering foot-stomping sing-alongs that evoke an American pastoral for a whole new generation. If tonight’s performance is anything to go by, it’s safe to say The Districts have the future firmly in their sights.

Setlist

Peaches
Hounds
Rocking Chair
Long Distance
Heavy Begs
Suburban Smell
Bold
Chlorine
Funeral Beds
4th & Roebling
Young Blood