Gig review: DMA's at O2 Academy Leeds

The crowd were ardently chanting their name well over 15 minutes before the Aussie trio even took to the darkened stage of Leeds’s O2 Academy, and when they did they launched straight into ‘Play It Out’, the closing track of their monumental first album.

The band stormed through a gargantuan 17-track set, coalescing music both old and new from their debut ‘Hills End’, and this years equally well received follow up ‘For Now’.

Despite visibly basking in the empyreal delight of the audience below, aside from the odd thank you, barely a word is spoken between songs which only helps serve as a reminder of how enraptured and entranced they become whilst performing.

As the ascendant ‘Emily Whyte’ comes to a crescendo, frontman Tommy O’Dell once again expresses his gratitude, telling fans that he’ll “see them next time”. T

he few moments between their unvanquished departure and unsurprising return seems like an age, but those who wait are rewarded with two of the bands’ earliest tracks, the stellar ‘Feels Like 37’ and ‘Laced’. Finale ‘Lay Down’ is a suitably grandiloquent denoument and as O’Dell takes his leave, Johnny Took and his acoustic guitar, alongside guitarist Matt Mason and their live band avowedly bring the nights’ proceedings to a triumphant close with an instrumental peroration.

The irrefutable rise of DMA’s is impossibly well deserved, but though the crowds may be getting bigger, still they retain a quiet and understated edge that has always set them apart from their peers; for them, it’s all about the music, which is exactly how it should be.

Their performance is executed with a subtle confidence, and the reciprocity between the three of them is magnetic. Their colossal show undoubtedly exudes an aura of triumph; every single date on their current tour is sold out.

It’s safe to say that DMA’s are on the brink of something quite extraordinary, and one thing’s for sure... they show no signs of diminish.