These days, I have the pleasure of attending most of the gigs in my diary as press. But when I’m in paying punter mode and purely getting out to see bands I’ve revered for years, I can’t help but write up my experiences, too. The most recent case: Death From Above 1979.

Highs of 27 degrees had swept across Leeds during the day and it seemed an unusual thing to do; to enter a crowded, sweat box of a venue for a show. But the event was riddled with treats. The first of which: Demob Happy were the opening act. They’re a band I’d heard plenty about for a while, yet I hadn’t had the chance to catch them in action before. So I glided over to front-left of the stage and capitalised on my nice, close view to enjoy their tunes.

The three-piece evidently pride themselves on tightness; that goes for every on-point thrash and smack of the drum skins to the deep, rumbling bass riffs. And it’s all complemented by a mix of intricate and chunky chord progressions on the six-string (I clocked the Gordon Smith, also used by Wolforna, among others), and harmonised vocals — usually between frontman and drummer.

They stated that, about 20 years ago, they attended their first gig and it happened to be Death From Above 1979. Although they weren’t super-fans at that moment, they soon became so; it was fitting and fate that they’d been chosen now to tour with the duo.

‘Autoportrait’ has long been a song I’ve had served to me via Spotify Radio and one I’ve hugely enjoyed, but I left their set wanting to devour ‘Be Your Man’, ‘Token Appreciation Society’ and ‘Less Is More’ over again. That’s been today’s plan. Blistering riffs, fierce drumming and suited-and-booted attire… An impeccably scuzzy sound furnished their fantastic performance.

As luck would have it, between Demob and DFA, I bumped into an old pal, who reminded me that one half of the headliner had also formed MSTRKRFT. And I don’t know why, but that quip seemed to raise my anticipation of the main event even more. Collected and confident, Death From Above 1979 soon swanned onto the stage and the crowd was enraptured.

As they played through their 2005 album, ‘You’re A Woman, I’m A Machine’, the evidence was on a silver platter; these guys had been the pioneers of bass-and-drum duos way prior to Royal Blood and so on, while also being serious purveyors of stop-drop-and-dance synths. Stabbing bass riffs emanated through the cool, clear-glass instrument as the thumping, masterful SPD did its work. The energy and atmosphere was electric, the noise was bombastic and the transitions between songs kept the tempo and engagement up excellently.

‘Little Girl’ was a prime example of why these guys have earned themselves props for their massive, massive sound. It was ensconced within the set list and then, after the album, they tucked in various favourites. ‘Freeze Me’ utterly set the room alight, with bodies boogying and grooving to every lick and lyric, then ‘Trainwreck 1979’ blared pre-encore, once again getting people jumping. After a short burst off the stage, ‘Right On, Frankenstein!’ prevailed as the choice of two tracks, whereby the almost squelchy, thick riffs that perforated against those thudding, crashing drums culminated in the most heavy-as-fuck display, put bluntly.

As Friday nights go, that was a belter.