Live Review: The Delta Riggs, Redspencer

The room is packed as Redspencer saunter on to the stage and immediately tell us how excited they are to be supporting Marmalade Shoes (The Delta Riggs) tonight. They put comical emphasis on the band name, which prompts the odd laugh and cheer because it’s basically one massive inside joke within the room at this point.

Redspencer start things off upbeat and rock’n’roll, however, for the kind of music that they play, they’re oddly motionless on stage (other than playing their instruments). It takes us a while to realise that the drummer, David McMillan, is also the vocalist, as he announces mid-way through: “It’s quiet time! Soft song of the set. Introspective time.” (The confusion comes from the fact that bassist Andre Franko has been miming all the words.)

When McMillan burps loudly mid-lyric, it becomes obvious that the band are not seasoned performers and this is further proven when they huddle in the middle of the stage, six or so songs in, trying to decide what to play next. They are quite clearly disorganised and don’t have much stage presence, but, as a band, they are tight and obviously well rehearsed. Right before their last song, Redspencer announce that the "secret band”, Marmalade Shoes, are in fact The Delta Riggs, much to the audience’s delight.

There’s a rockstar feel in the air as The Delta Riggs push their way through the crowd and on to the stage. Now fully attentive, we get right into their first song of the night, It’s Over. Everyone in the crowd is jumping around and the first three rows have turned into a mosh pit by the band’s third song, The Record’s Flawed. The Delta Riggs remain quite cool and calm, lead singer Elliott Hammond causally leaning on his mic stand to observe the crowd.

The Delta Riggs introduce themselves as TV On The Radio, commenting on the “fancy-looking people in the audience”. The room reacts well, dissolving into laugher. A Jack London plug comes next, as does an album plug and Hammond laments his band didn’t make it into the Hottest 100. “Have you heard our album? If you're not familiar with it, it got four out of five in Rolling Stone, so go fuck yourself,” he says.

Slower track Ornate Delicate Creatures follows. On-stage banter is incredible and The Delta Riggs take a no-shame approach. When drummer Simon McConnell’s snare breaks, they manage to keep us entertained the whole time, with or without their instruments. Crowd favourites Rah Rah Radio and Supersonic Casualties conclude the evening.