DIIV

Japandroids and DIIV at Black Cat, Dec 7, 2012
I thought it was really VERY good, honest, but it wasn't my favorite show of the year. The opener DIIV (pronounced "dive") was a jammy, guitar-driven, mostly instrumental band that performed very well, but their music is not my thing. Japandriods were powerhouse performers. Their set was at least an hour and a half long, with fast songs almost the entire time. It's two guys, but they sound a hell of a lot bigger than two guys. The singer engaged the audience well, they had tons of energy, and they were very fun. Their current album "Celebration Rock" is super high energy, and the crowd sang along to most of the songs. There was a lot of dancing, some moshing, even a little crowd surfing. It was a really fun atmosphere. I absolutely recommend this band for a really good rock show. They deliver. The only thing I found un-amazing about the show was the singer's voice. Vocals are what sell it for me. This singer has been touring non-stop for months, belting it out hard every night for a couple hours. His voice has taken a beating and he wasn't singing his best. He made up for it in other ways, but the vocals would have had to have been stronger for me to declare this my show of the year.

Originally the solo project of musician Zachary Cole Smith, Brooklyn outfit DIIV has developed wonderfully organically with band members and music and this is one of the reasons credited to their initial stretch across the US and UK. In Britain the group has enjoyed coverage by the likes of DIY, NME and 6Music so a fanbase is definitely present whenever Zachary and co stop off at venues around the small isle. They were given great introduction after supporting indie-rock darlings The Vaccines shortly after the release of their debut. Finding fans for their engaging live performance and celestial vocals, on return they were able to fill small venues of new, converted fans.

Zachary Cole Smith is a compelling frontman with a fairly androgynous appearance yet this means he is able to distort his vocal in similar ways to really captivate the crowds. As the lights float over him in time with deep guitar riffs, you feel the atmosphere drop during 'Waste of Breath'. 'Dust' closes the show in a suitably compelling manner and leaves the audience pondering the future of DIIV as there is definitely an untapped potential here.

DIIV played a fascinating show as the Wizard of Oz during Halloween 2015 at the Mohawk in Austin, TX.

Being that I live in San Antonio and had to drive to Austin for this show was worth it and one that I had been looking forward to in the preceding months.

Frontman Zachary Cole Smith was very engaging, entertaining and funny. The band seemed like they were having a blast rocking out on stage. All of the instrumentation was excellent, especially the wonderful chiming guitars that make their sound. The vocals were not reverb drenched like they sound on their debut "Oshin", which to me, would have added another level to space out to during their jams.

However, their live presence and the overall performance was great and had me moving the entire time. There was even a time when everyone in front of me had started to mosh and then everybody else around me started being pushed around and just having a good time!

The new material they performed all sounds really fantastic and I cannot wait for their new record "Is the Is Are" to drop.

it was a hell of a fun!!

I didn't expect that they're gonna play some songs from the past album, but then they did?? We were so pumped because they let us choose the song that we wanted to hear and so we kind of proposed a lot of songs from the past album.

It was quite a big quantity for a small venue like that, which I really love cause it doesn't change the intimacy between the audience and the performers. People were dancing and moshing like fools which also obviously, they crowd surfed twice/thrice at a time.

It was one of the best concert that I went

It was a pretty chill show, they played just about every song I imagined, except Past Lives and some others. I love Past Lives the most, it got me into the band, but I was still happy with their performance. Lots of great new material to hear. Zachary Cole Smith was pretty funny, too. I couldn't help but think they were a bit bored that night, though, like they were just pumping out another show to get going on the road again. But they HAD just been in Seattle during the summer, so that would be a bit understandable. Fun times with a good crowd and a great band.

My granddaughter whos lived with me since birth. Found ur music when she was going through some very sad and hard things for a young teen.
She had always told me ur music helped her through the rough times.
I found ur concert advertised and bought the tickets for her &her boyfriend to go
She was very happy and loved ur show
And I’m so glad I could give that to them
They both loved ur that U played the old songs
Her favorite is Doused

I bought the tickets for my granddaughter and her boyfriend they both love DIIV
My granddaughter enjoyed the show immensely she said that they have perfected their sound since the first time she ever heard them and they played old songs like horse head doused bent and she was able to get up close enough to see Cole perform
They bought a sweatshirt and 80% of ocean and they were both just as happy as could be the show was fantastic

Had never seen DIIV and was really looking forward to the evening at Zanzabar. I was familiar with the latest LP but only slightly with the first one.
The Energy was amazing with this group and also noted how much they fit into the stereotypical "Brooklyn" look. The band has some great guitar hooks and would love to see them again. Zanzabar is in need of an upgrade but they are still the best place around for booking bands.

I thought Zach and Colin were great and executed perfectly. Andrew was all over the place, causing lots of feedback and didnt seem in control of what he was doing. Probably really high. They were mixed pretty muddy as well, and I get that their music has a lot of reverb but it seemed muddy and not smooth.

That said, there were a few tracks where it all came together for them, like Blankenship. Not a bad show, just not great.

Saw these guys playing in Amsterdam Paradiso last night and loved the show as much as their earlier appearance on the Best Kept Secret festival. Their live performance was supported with some self made (?) handcam shots of the bands for decent visuals in the background. Lots of energy in the audience too with a couple of mosh pits during the more uptempo songs! Go check them out ;)