Live Review: At The Drive In, Le Butcherettes

Post-hardcore legends At The Drive In played the Hordern on Friday in what was essentially a victory lap after last year's visit to the Enmore. With a shiny new album to show off, the once-volatile Texans brought with them fresh potential, and while their new stuff is nothing to scoff at, like most abrasive acts heavy with legacy, the blistering heat that radiated off them 20 years ago has been tempered somewhat by two decades of a reality grim enough to feel like their hard work and righteous fury was all for naught.

We were kids when they exploded on the scene. The same people watching them last night have seen some shit, man (maybe, probably). We're older, and not as mesmerised with Cedric Bixler-Zavala's thrashing madman routine. It was impressive, with predictable opening track Arcarsenal wringing out a best-of routine from Bixler-Zavala, but his wordless, cryptic machine gun yelping got lost in the milieu, and it doesn't feel dangerous anymore. They diligently ticked boxes (including a decent encore performance of their career-defining One Armed Scissor), and while we enjoyed it, there was something missing.

Not so for the support act, Mexican punk outfit Le Butcherettes. Their political agenda is highly relevant right now, something that ATDI can't really crow about, and when you combine that with their highly flammable melodic garage, you had something worth talking about afterwards at the bar. Frontwoman Teri Gender Bender was magnetic, and that's without the spastic afro-ed flailing the lead act boasts. She had such a strong presence, and her warbled sermonising sounded electric. 

It was a solid double bill. The abrasive (aged) machismo of a rock band past their prime (but not giving a fuck) met their match in a younger, hungrier outfit not yet recognised by even Pitchfork.