It's a long distance from Athens, Georgia, to Athens, Greece, and even longer the time we had to wait until we finally got to see Deerhunter live in our city. The excellent 90-minute set they played at Fuzz Club last Thursday could not possibly include all the great songs they have given us over the years, but despite missing several of our favorites, we would certainly include this performance among the best live experiences of this year.
Bradford Cox and his band presented us earlier this year "Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?", one of my favorite albums of 2019, and as expected a good part of the set was based on this release, including the excellent opening salvo of "Death in Midsummer", "No One's Sleeping" and "What Happens to People?".
The other record that featured heavily in the set was "Halcyon Digest", an album which will be turning 10 next year (perhaps an indication that this is the band's favorite work?), with "Revival" and "Desire Lines" being among the highlights of the evening. New and old material combined seamlessly to create a unique rock experience containing all the idiosyncrasies that make Deerhunter such a special band.
Before Deerhunter's performance, we had the opportunity to catch a brief set by Moon Diagrams, the name which Deerhunter's drummer Moses Archuleta uses to present his warped electronic experiments. A different kind of experience, for sure, but certainly an interesting one.
Moon Diagrams, live @ Fuzz Club (Athens, Nov. 21st, 2019) |
Deerhunter, live @ Fuzz Club (Athens, Nov. 21st, 2019) |
Check out below what Deerhunter played at their first ever Athens, Greece, show and videos of "Futurism" and "He Would Have Laughed", the epic set closer:
Deerhunter - Futurism (live @ Fuzz Club, Athens)
Deerhunter - He Would Have Laughed (live @ Fuzz Club, Athens)