Live Review: At The Drive In, Le Butcherettes

Thanks to a combination of bad weather, bad parking and plain bad luck, Le Butcherettes are well and truly in the end stages of their opening set by the time we arrive inside the cavernous live venue at Eatons Hill Hotel.

There's genuine sorrow on this writer's part at that turn of events, as what we do see of the powerful garage-punk four-piece is a wild and wonderful scene to behold, and seems like the perfect primer for what lies ahead. At the very least, from what we catch, they've ensured that they'll be utterly unmissable the next time they roll to our shores.

Still, we can't dwell too long on what could've been, as pretty soon after they depart the stage, a blast of Psycho-esque strings takes over the PA and El Paso post-hardcore legends At The Drive In emerge. The familiar sound of maracas, wielded by frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala, and thunderous toms bring forth an ecstatic cheer from the crowd before the snarling guitar line of Arcarsenal sends the packed room into an early frenzy as hundreds of twenty and thirtysomethings are flung back instantaneously to their younger years.

The audience's energy is more than matched by the antics on-stage; though 17 years removed from the band's seminal album Relationship Of Command, Bixler-Zavala moves with a frenetic ferocity that has earned him a reputation as one of the most electrifying performers this side of the millennium; he leaps off amps, the drum riser and even the stage into waiting arms, flails with reckless abandon, and lifts and slams and kicks his mic stand with unwavering ardour as his comrades rock out — and just plain rock — in kind.

Of course, it can't all be nostalgia — this tour is in honour of the band's newest full-length, in•ter a•li•a, so naturally it's not long before some new material is thrown into the mix, kicking off with the unleashed fury of No Wolf Like The Present — but we are, somewhat surprisingly, treated to a great majority of tunes from At The Drive In's storied past throughout their 90-minute set.

It's a bit of a ricochet effect, in a way — at the drop of a drum fill, the band launch into crowd favourite Pattern Against User, generating one of the bigger early singalongs of the night, before fast-forwarding to newer cut Continuum, then slowing things down with the comparative restraint of Non-Zero Possibility, which gives recent recruit and guitarist Keeley Davis ample room to flex his vocal prowess, his chorus lines also generating a beefy call-and-response with the audience.

Other highlights ensue in the dual face-kicks of Sleepwalk Capsules and Cosmonaut, while Call Broken Arrow keeps the energy levels high before the heavy hit — in more ways than one — of the evocative immensity of Invalid Litter Dept. Drummer Tony Hajjar is in commendable form throughout the performance, but utterly shines during the fill-laden savagery of Enfilade, before Davis and fellow guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (a simply hypnotic force unto himself) coax us into the truly unexpected Napoleon Solo, from the band's under-appreciated second album In/Casino/Out.

At The Drive In close their main set with the attitudinal aggression of Governed By Contagions, leaving the crowd anxiously calling for their return before they generously grant our wish and re-enter. Bixler-Zavala, sweetly, takes the time to thank the band's crew for their contributions to making their show happen night in, night out, dedicating their final song — the massively received, monumental One Armed Scissor — to them, and us. The house lights come up, the roadies hit the stage, and, seemingly too suddenly, the show is over, but this is a night that will stay with those who witnessed it for a long, long time to come.