Perturbator + Dan Terminus // 17.3.2019 / Lille Vega, Copenhagen (LIVE REVIEW)

By Kristoffer Klitgaard Andersen & Xenia Kromann

 
Sunday evening, we were a part of one of the best endings a weekend could have, and one of the better Sundays that we’ve experienced in a long time. The struggle is real when it comes to the more experimental and niche bookings in Copenhagen, so we were excited, to say the least.

The bill for the night consisted of the two French artists Dan Terminus and Perturbator. Both of whom are well known for their synthwave music, with especially Pertubator focusing on the darker, ominous soundscapes.

Dan Terminus
First up was the one-man artist Dan who came on stage and turned out to take over not only the stage but also the audience from the first to the last minute of his performance. He started out with four strong tracks “Margaritifer”, “Restless Destroyer” “Refuge” and “death by distortion” that really had an effect on the crowd, whom were, for the most part, nodding their heads rhythmically. It was sort of a shame, that so many people opted to arrive later (when Perturbator came on), instead of seeing the support act, because we have to admit that the strongest performance of the evening, turned out to be Dan Terminus. His passion and engagement in his performance and music were incredible and one could tell that he was really living out his character on the stage, he was dramatic and theatrical and even though it almost turned comical at times, he managed to make it work in his favor. As the rhythmic bassy synth music started pumping, smiles and actual full-fledged headbanging slowly started spreading throughout an otherwise rather tired-looking crowd.

Later on, he played some of his more downbeat track like “Abandoned Ship Graveyard” and it was good to see the darker side of his music. As the music got darker the crowd seemed energized and what went from head-nodding to headbanging now turned into sweaty dancing and jumping, flanked by the cold white strobes that made it look like time slowed down, all while Dan Terminus stood as a solitary black silhouette, unleashing his inexorable dark and wavy mayhem upon us. Overall, the soft start that then took a detour into more gloomy and relentless tracks, served as a perfect Segway into the main act, and after a full set that still managed to feel “too short”, it was time for PERTUBATOR!


Perturbator
The night's headliners were up, and after a small break we made our way back to the stage where  the crowd had mysteriously doubled, now filling Vega to maximum capacity, with people standing in the doorway into the venue, just to catch a glimpse of the duo. They came out onto the stage, and took their places behind the only two instruments on stage. A drumkit and a synth setup. The audience was filled with energy, the murmuring sound of anticipation grew higher, and higher, a high hat is rare when you attend a show on a Sunday in Copenhagen these days. It seems that Copenhagen has been craving Pertubator, because when looking around, everyone was singing along and knew the bands songs, and when tracks such as  “Future Club”, “Neo Tokyo” and “She Moves Like A Knife” came on, it elicited quick and roaring responses from the audience. The setlist was probably the only problem of the evening, but also a pretty large one. The first half of the concert seemed to drag the crowd further and further into the claustrophobic and dark atmosphere created by the music, and slowly we went from a concert, to rave as the dancing really began. This all sort of culminated in a weird anticlimactic way, when about halfway through the set, a very upbeat and oddly jolly song began, and as quickly as the rave had begun, it ended.

Now, this is not to say that the music from here on out, was bad, not at all, but it was an odd choice and they never really seemed to regain control of the crowd after this. While the party died down a bit - and the crowd went from wildly moshing and dancing, to rocking back and forth – the band kept on trucking with their mix of synth, minimal drum beats and tons and tons of ominous evil fog-horn sounds, and by the last two tracks clusters of dancing people began emerging in the filled venue. Crowd reactions seemed mixed as well, and it was clear that we were not the only ones left wondering about the sudden and odd shifts in atmosphere that came from the stage in lack of better terms, “challenging” setlist.  Had they just managed to keep onto that feeling created by the first half of the setlist, it would have been a close to spotless performance, but being dragged – unwillingly, I might add out of the darkness and chaos that they worked so hard to drag us into, left you want just a bit more.


We give the night

Out of 6


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