Pendulum – Manchester Victoria Warehouse.

Very different gig this one, and one that I’ve never thought of putting myself forward for. The closest I’ve ever gotten to this type of music is The Prodigy and that was always in small doses. I’m going into this blind.

Pendulum are back in the UK after their incredible set at Download Festivals 20 year anniversary which involved the collaboration for their then recent single “Halo” with Matt Tuck from Bullet For My Valentine.

Pendulum the Australian electronic rock band made it back to the UK for a sold out show at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, and this place was packed out to the point where people were spilling out into the bar area and having to watch some of the performance on screens.

But before they took to the stage the crowd needed to hyped up for a heavy night of drum and bass. With DJ ShockOne for me this is when I was standing to the side not really knowing what to do because this was completely out of my comfort zone, so Instead people watching had to be the way I could try and understand this kind of show better. Just watching the crowd roll into the room you could see the effect was working with hands being thrown in the air and fists pumping, and everyone dancing towards the sides while ShockOne did what he did best to get everyone in the mood for a long exciting night.

Scarlxrd was a completely different approach, bringing in a mix of electronic, metal and rap together made an interesting and entertaining combination. At first his DJ was the only one on the stage and to be fair with plenty of movement from him it was an improvement from the previous support. However Scarlxrd knew how to get the crowd moving and spent a majority of his time on his own platform in front of the screens behind the DJ, which was clearly just his own style but it made photographing him a little bit harder. He performed well and had the crowd jumping, you could tell this was a very split show with some of the crowd being ravers and some being metal-heads, metal heads vibing way more to Scarlxrd than the ravers did for sure.

I guess a huge benefit from these types of gigs is the supports can have longer sets with a very short set change between each act, less moving around drum kits and soundchecking guitars going on because the changeover to Pendulum was pretty quick with everything starting on time, from where I was stood at the side of the stage I could see the crowd filling up massively, especially from looking at the screens from the camera at the back of the room, the entire venue was packed out from the floor to the upper balcony, but it wasn’t until I had gotten out of the photo pit did I really see the intense crowd level.

Pendulum coming all the way from Australia was a rare moment, except for their set at Download Festival last year for the 20th Anniversary. So having them come back over for the first time in years for a full length tour was amazing, especially a sold out show in Manchester. I’m not a massive drum and bass fan but even I could tell they could’ve easily have done a bigger venue, which for Manchester is the Arena.

Pendulum started their set with an intense instrumental intro and a hell of a light show, which was to be expected, I was pre-told that this was Enter Shikari light show but times it by ten. As the guys took to the stage the crowd went nuts as the screen changed to a smoke show from the back of the stage to the platforms.

Starting off the set with Napalm the crowd goes beyond insane, and the movements have already begun not a single person (minus those at the barrier) is not moving!

Vocalist Rob Swire moves across each of the platforms as if he’s moving with the smoke effects, the man has so many action worthy moments during this performance it’s hard to pick one that resembles ACTION SHOT! His vocals throughout the performance was beyond incredible and the way the band can simply get that crowd to move in the way they did is something that could be studied, because it was insane. The pits throughout Victoria Warehouse couldn’t be stopped like anyone would really want them too, with fans having their own mini rave in the bar area at the back of the venue, since it was such a struggle to get into the crowd, I just managed to but only by the smallest amount since it could have been in the dictionary description of “Packed out”. Running in for their favourite song desperate to get into the pit that I couldn’t even see without having to watch the screen there were that many people.

But seeing fans in rave outfits or the definitional stereotype of a metal head all join together as two communities that don’t tend to mix too much, dance and move like nutcases together was such a fun and amazing thing to see. The light show for each song was unique in its own way and fit in every aspect, making a very entertaining show. And as a Bullet For My Valentine girl FINALLY getting to hear Halo be performed live since I missed it at Download was a real treat.

I also don’t think you can go to this show and forget during the slower moments, hearing such beautiful lyrics being sung back to a band like this, with hands in the air and everything being one.

For my first drum and bass show, this was one to remember and a great welcome into this different kind of community, a performance that will be remembered forever by everyone in that room, myself included. Pendulum are the perfect mix of DnB and Rock and there is a venue upgrade in the future for the next time they return here, the show was incredible in Victoria Warehouse I can’t imagine what it will be like at the new Co-Op Live. I’m manifesting here, it’s not happened yet or planned to but it will happen I can see it now.

Setlist: