Pendulum: 'Live At Brixton Academy'

Anyone who has seen Pendulum live will understand the chaotic intensity involved. Anyone who makes a habit of watching live DVDs will know that they vary rarely manage to capture said intensity. So it is with a little trepidation that Pendulum’s 'Live At Brixton Academy' is slid into the disc drive.

It’s a damn relief then to find that this DVD gets the blood pumping. The sound is magnificent and actually manages to recreate the live experience quite well - or as well as you can without the beer, sweat, bruises and punishing bass.

The band kick off somewhat weakly with ‘Showdown’, but luckily favourites such as ‘Fasten Your Seatbelt’ and ‘Slam’ help form a set list that otherwise hits all the right notes. It is fascinating to see how certain electronic elements are played through live guitars and drums. The guys have clearly worked very hard on refining their live show and truly feel like a proper band.

Covers of ‘Voodoo People’ and ‘Master Of Puppets’ are easily as coruscating and powerful as the originals, but thankfully they do not overwhelm Pendulum’s own material. A terrific ‘Hold Your Colour’ and full bore ‘Tarantula’ remind you of what they are capable of.

The extras though are terrific for another reason - their complete and utter pointlessness. Want to see what it's like waiting to go onstage? Oh... And who really cares what fans having a fag break think. Why are these people even having a fag break?!

A dream for any fan who's new to Pendulum and hasn't caught them live yet, the DVD is also essential if you definitely were there but can’t remember much and need a better record of events than your own 5 minutes of dodgy camera phone footage.



Released on DVD on 15th June 2009 by Warner Records.

Written by Ollie Cornish.