REVIEW: Iceage @ the Sinclair 06/27
By Brittany Moura
Danish post-punk group Iceage took to the infamously tall Sinclair stage Wednesday night to an energetic crowd that clearly needed Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s sermon of desperate, raw power. The band, led by Rønnenfelt, includes Johan Surballe Wieth on guitar, Jakob Tvilling Pless on bass, and Dan Kjær Nielson on drums. Since the release of their most accessible album, Beyondless, this past May, they’ve added a violinist that takes their seemingly dangerous sound to a more nuanced, refined questioning of what “punk” is supposed to sound like–and that’s not the only element that has illustrated Iceage’s progression through sound and vision. As somebody who has spent her teenage years searching for a band that could balance the duality of light and dark in a way I could dance AND acquire bruises to, I’m a happy customer.
They performed Beyondless in its entirety, except for “Showtime,” which is a great cut from the album that paints Rønnenfelt how the crowd sees him on stage–a staggering punk pop star who looks as if he would fall down and die at any second–and this is far from a bad thing. “Hurrah,” the opening song, depicts literal war, which is ironic considering it is one of the most danceable tracks. The crowd, mainly the front row of devoted fans, watched in awe as Rønnenfelt made them his army, reaching down to make morbidly depressing eye contact and accidentally, perhaps, wrapping his mic cord around the most devoted. Following that was “Pain Killer,” and “Under the Sun,” which got more and more of the crowd singing along, and brought up the band’s energy as a whole.
The band’s previous album to Beyondless, Plowing Into the Field of Love, majorly helped them acquire their passionate fanbase of all genders and ages, so when they started playing tunes like “On My Fingers,” my personal favorite track of theirs, it was how I imagined seeing Joy Division play “Disorder” might have felt like–not that they are too similar, but “On My Fingers” oozes a similar sense of beautiful urgency that is both reminiscent and modern. Another star of the show, their most popular track, “The Lord’s Favorite,” features an iconic slap-dash guitar entrance that brought the performance to this eruption of high energy that caused one of the most stylish mosh pits I’ve ever encountered. It was a blessing to be rammed into by young and old singing along with Rønnenfelt’s moans of, “I do believe in heaven,” and lustful visions of his “dreamlike mirage haze.”
After all, I think it’s evident that Iceage was one of my favorite performances of 2018, and I recommend seeing them live to really appreciate the sense of urgency and passion surrounding this band.