Deadletter - Live at Dareshack, Bristol, 25th October 2023

A few weeks ago your reviewer went to see the re-released Stop Making Sense, the 1984 concert film by Jonathan Demme about Talking Heads’ tour the previous year.

Taking place over four nights, the film offers little insight other than capturing the euphoria and sheer force of a band at the top of the game, with a host of musicians working in tandem to create a whirlwind of glorious majesty.

Watching six-piece Deadletter on the first night of their UK tour is a disconcertingly similar experience. Musically the two groups overlap, even if they are separated by nearly half a century: the ragged-yet-watertight dexterity, the synchronisation of the musicians (very obviously on the same page) and the magnetic qualities of the frontman. Equally, both acts combine an eclectic mix of genres to their music.

But while David Byrne and co specialised in funk, art rock and punk, Deadletter – as a requirement of the age in which they live – must have a ‘post’ prefix attached to the latter. And while Byrne often appeared delighted, frontman Zac Lawrence possesses an intensity which belies, sadly, the more serious times of 2023. In short, he’s not much of a smiler.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/10/review-deadletter-live-dareshack/