WORDS AND PHOTOS BY CASEY CORRIGAN
Kicking off their Lonely People with Power tour at the Belasco Theater in L.A. on Saturday night, Deafheaven played to a rightfully sold-out crowd and delivered with the kind of intensity that left the near-century-old venue buzzing.
The Northern California quintet tore through nearly every track on their new record—only three were left untouched—while weaving in fan favorites like “Brought to the Water,” “Worthless Animal,” and the ever-devastating “Dream House.” The crowd, a sea of headbanging and howling voices, met the band’s relentless energy head-on, screaming every word and making their love for the new material deafeningly clear.
From the first crushing note of “Doberman” to the final echoes of “Winona,” the live performance was a testament to Deafheaven’s evolution. George Clarke’s vocals swung with precision between feral and haunting, Daniel Tracy’s blast beats punished with precision, and the band’s signature sound—an alchemy of metal, post-rock, and shoegaze—was on full display. The layering, the transitions, the emotional whiplash… it was all unmistakably Deafheaven.
Lonely People with Power has been in heavy rotation for me, and after witnessing it come alive on stage, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
