The first time that I saw the Iceage live was back in Athens, five years ago. At that point, I was working as a music journalist for a local site and I had to interview them and watch their concert as well. At that time, they were the new hot band in our alternative universe. The "little babies" of Matador. The noise-punk heroes of Pitchfork. Girls were in love with the frontman of the band, Elias. Long story short, the interview didn't go as well as I expected and so did the live. On the one hand, there was a small audience who was quite bored and on the other hand, there was the band who couldn't believe that they were about to play in front of 30 people. Oh well. In between, they released two albums. To be honest, I wasn't really moved. Generally, I liked both of them but there was always the feeling like they were trying of holding back. It was nice in their comfort zone-no risk, no harm, no problem. Needless to say, I didn't pay more attention. Iceage was in the "bands-who-are-going-to-disappear-soon" cupboard of my mind. End of story.
Fast forward and we are in 2018. The Greek girl is currently based in London. Iceage are in a short European tour celebrating their new album. Suddenly, giving another chance to them was a one-way path. Still a bit suspicious but hey, you get what you give right?
It's Tuesday and I was running like crazy because I was late. I reached Scala (which is one of my favourite London venues ), grabbed a beer and went straight to the stage. As I got in, there was empty space and a bunch of people waiting. Sorry what?
Around 8.30 the support band came out. Pardans were more than good to heat up the atmosphere but the restless feeling of the long waiting was still there. Kudos to the frontman though, for his real Northern Soul spirit -from the clothes to his moves, he was such a nice performer to watch.
One hour later, Iceage were on stage. Scala was totally packed. A deep breath and they started spitting anger and tunes. That was the moment that I realised they were a completely different band. To be precise, Iceage managed to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Sharp, angry and utterly dynamic, grabbed people and threw them in the wall from the very first song. The setlist included songs from their previous albums like "Ecstasy" and "Lord's Favourite" along with their latest one which set their performance on fire. Iceage are still noisy and neurotic but it's more than that. Its the transfer of their real identity, ideas and passion into music. Being more mature and therefore more experienced, the band developed itself in a more artsy edition of Nick Cave's Birthday Party- at last, they are more focused in what their music reflects than their mirror. Highlight of the evening was the "Catch It" moment when Elias surprisingly decided to stage dive-it was the only time that I felt sorry about the security guard.
Iceage is not your average rock band. Bringing the greatest record of their career, they went a step further to their sound originality - either including saxophone and pop moments in songs like the "Painkiller" or just speaking their thoughts loudly in "The Day that music dies". Above all, they created an astonishing live experience for us to remember.
"Beyondless" was released through Matador Records on May 4, 2018
http://iceagecopenhagen.eu/
https://www.facebook.com/IceageCopenhagen/
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