Store Vega, October 2011 : Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Digital Havoc

Expectations were high right from the start as the Hamburg based electro-rock band, Digitalism took to the stage at Vega on Saturday. The duo, consisting of Jens “Jence” Moelle and İsmail “Isi” Tüfekçi first rocketed to popularity back in 2007 with their debut album, “Idealism,” a work that catapulted the then unknown musicians into the limelight. As emblematic an album as this may be, Saturday’s concert will no doubt be remembered by most for the tunes off Digitalism’s latest piece of studio genius, the recently released “I love You Dude EP.” The driven percussion fused with occasional high pitch vocal punctuations on the album blended seamlessly with their visual effects setup on the night. Jence and Isi looked confident, sharp and content behind their macbook pros and analogue gadgetry.

Digitalism were all smiles as they took to the stage and proceeded to set things alight with several scorching openers. As the show proceeded, the occasional vocal input from Moelle helped add depth to the performance even though his voice was frequently drowned by the overlying din of synth stabs and hefty percussive sequences.

Vega sounded like it was playing host to an orchestra of pipe-bangers that masterfully ravaged the darkness before them at times and at others the venue resembled your average rock concert. The fusion between rock and electro that’s made Digitalism as accessible a band as they are was abundantly evident throughout.

And whilst things were rowdy and gloriously shambolic at times, at others there seemed to be an awkward stillness lingering in the air, due no doubt in part to the fact that Vega was not nearly as packed as it could have been.

Midway through the proceedings, one felt as if Digitalism had lashed out all their grand-slam numbers as a more sombre and uninspiring mood became the order of the day. Whilst the poisonous synth burts and hissing hi-hats of marquee numbers, “Zdarlight” and the rollicking indie-esque “Pogo” towards the end did their bit to redeem things, ultimately one was left thirsting for some missing ingredient.

The best example of this came at the end of the show when the curtain dropped without warning, ending things in a rather unceremonious fashion. This notwithstanding, Saturday’s concert did indeed have its share of poignant moments which will no doubt be remembered for a while to come.