AT THE OBSERVATORY, DIE SPITZ TURNS CHAOS INTO PERFORMANCE ART
PHOTOS BY KYRA GANSON
There are concerts. And then there are Die Spitz shows, where music becomes a form of performance art. The audience is as much a collaborator as the band itself. I had the opportunity to see them live at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California, on October 18, and I was left absolutely speechless. Catching them live was like stepping into a controlled riot; a riot choreographed with precision and wit.
From the moment the first chords hit, the stage became a battleground. Ellie Livingston doesn’t just sing; she storms the stage, roams the crowd, and negotiates chaos with a grin, while bassist Kate Halter attacks the strings like a duel, eyes glinting with mischief. Behind them, drummer Chloe De St. Aubin is pure kinetic poetry, hammering the kit with both fury and precision, truly driving the performance forward. Guitarist Ava Schrobilgen moves with purpose as her riffs slice through the noise, sculpting melody out of mayhem.
The set itself felt like a living sculpture: songs collided, shifted, and dissolved in a blur of grunge, punk, and shoegaze, each transition leaving the audience off-balance and exhilarated. Each pause felt more than just a pause, but rather, a breath held before the next eruption, a moment of tension before the pit exploded again. The circle pit eruption wasn’t just fun; it was ritualized chaos —a participatory act of rebellion.
The visual aesthetic of the performance amplified the art of the show: flailing limbs, mics swinging, sweat-soaked clothes clinging like armor. Every creative stage direction didn’t just highlight the music; it transformed each movement into an image, each scream into a brushstroke on a canvas of energy. The Die Spitz Observatory show was a living, breathing piece of avant-rock theater.
What Die Spitz delivered at The Observatory to conclude their headline tour wasn’t just your average show; it was performance art delivered at full volume. It was a masterpiece of noise, sweat, and fearless self-expression. If you ever get the opportunity to see Die Spitz live, you 100% have to take it.
