At the Drive In Review by

Daniel Jaramillo

This year At the Drive In announced that they would be reforming the band and venturing on a new world tour. It was also stated on their website that they would be releasing new music this year. Fans of ATDI had been anticipating this tour since that band last performed together in 2000. In those 16 years a lot of music was put out by each of the individual members especially from Cedric Bixler-Zavala (Lead Singer) and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (Lead Guitarist) who formed The Mars Volta and Antemasque. I was one the lucky pundits to get a ticket to ATDI’s sold out show in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre last Sunday.

As I arrived to the venue the place was already filled with fans who were ready to get the concert going. I was sitting from my seat at the back of the theatre and I could see fans right at the front getting close to the stage and preparing for what was going to be a great show.

The supporting band were Bad// Dreems a 4 piece band from Adelaide. There first few songs reminded of early punk music reminiscent of The Sex Pistols but with pop choruses. They got the crowd energised and created a buzzing atmosphere. Their set was short but only because their songs were short in timing. In my opinion they were an appropriate band to support ATDI but I wouldn’t be interested in a seeing them headline a show.

The moment came when the lights went out and ATDI came on stage to a loud applause. They got their set underway with Arcarsenal the opening song to their classic album Relationship of Command, even today it is still regarded as one of the top post-punk/hard-core releases of the last 20 years. The full set list comprised of songs mainly from Relationship of Command with a few songs from previous album In Casino Out.

Cedric dived into the audience in more than one occasion, crowd surfing and jumping around like he had flees in his pants. The light show behind them was also impressive but did not distract the audience from the music. The 5 piece band still can put on a rocking show with high energy and even Cedric who was having problems with his vocal chords as he discovered he had nodules in his throat (this subsequently made the band have to cancel their North American tour only a month before their visit to Australia) was singing like he was in his 20’s. Omar was also enjoying his himself but unlike the Mars Volta where he plays a much more lead role, his guitar playing becomes more about complimenting the whole band rather than playing long guitar solos.

The singer also gave a passionate speech about how in the early days of the band they were playing shows where no one new about them and how driven they were to keep their collective dream alive. He then went on to explain how for young people who have dreams of doing something they love are told by their parents that they need to have a backup plan is like having a fire inside your soul which your parents ignore and you go ahead and light houses on fire figuratively speaking. With that in mind it was a celebration of a band that has gone through hardships from members losing their lives to drugs to others leaving just before an 8 month tour took place and then reuniting again with most of the original members selling out shows all around the world.