Fluffer Pit Party, Dalston Epic, review: Deap Vally attack from all angles

“Ferocious energy”: Deap Vally’s Lindsey Troy rockets around the 360 degree stage. Photographs: Casey Cooper-Fiske

Dalston’s Epic looks an unlikely stage for Deap Vally’s long awaited London return: squeezed in amongst the taxi ranks and chicken shops, you’d be forgiven for not being able to find it – especially given that promoters Fluffer typically only reveal the locations of their Pit Parties last minute.

On the inside however, the Epic resembles a scene from Martin Scorsese’s HBO series Vinyl, with smoke filling the almost pitch black space illuminated only by a solitary chandelier looming over the 360° stage in the middle.

After a slightly longer wait than expected, Lindsay Troy and Julie Edwards bounce on to the stage rocketing straight into ‘Raw Material’ from first album Sistrionix. The crowd in front of them mirrors their ferocious energy; however less can be said for the crowd positioned behind them and those to the left and right.

Deap Vally assault those in front of them with pure sonic power, but for those positioned elsewhere the sound falls a bit flat. Lindsay tries her best to get the energy flowing all around her by throwing herself around all 360 degrees of stage, but ultimately the PA system lets her and Julie down on this count.

The view from the back of the stage

The scream of “LONDOOOOOOOON”, which opens second song ‘Beauty Queen’, acts as a call for those standing behind and on the sides to run to face the band, where they’re exposed to exactly what they were missing as the band give a wild and raucous rendition of the Femejism cut.

The seductive pulse of ‘Smile More’ is one of the highlights of the evening, with the crowd singing every word along with Lindsay. It seems that tonight everyone is “happily unhappy”, as this line rebounds off the ceiling with a vicious ricochet.

The pace is increased once more with ‘Julien’ completing the hat trick of anthems off of their latest offering, after which Lindsay gives us a highly amusing and humorous rant about Heathrow’s security not allowing her to bring hand cream through, teasing the crowd about their potentially dry hands.

Post rant, the duo don’t quite seem to be able to rekindle the power of earlier, with new songs not packing the punch of their more familiar material.

Then fan favourite ‘Lies’ strikes the audience unawares and almost knocks them all to the floor, rekindling their fire. The band take this momentum and proceed to fire a salvo: featuring the short fire burst of ‘Walk of Shame’, the bluesy rumble of ‘Six Feet Under’, the glam-attack of ‘End of the World’ and finally the rallying chorus of ‘Bad for my Body’.

The band return to finish the audience with the knockout blow of an extended rendition of ‘Royal Jelly’. The song, undoubtedly one of the best in their repertoire, concludes the gig in the best way possible, with Lindsay bellowing out the final words of “Ya gotta make the gold at the end of the rainbow”.

Deap Vally have given everything tonight despite the a duller reception in the middle of the show (new songs will probably receive a much improved reaction upon release).

However, it’s hard to leave Dalston Epic without thinking that it may have been all the more impressive on a standard stage (Call me old fashioned). It seems like for the 360 stage it may have to be a case of ‘back to the drawing board’ in order to get a more inclusive sound for everyone.