The word “friendzoned” is flashing on the screen above the stage, where the Chainsmokers are industriously party-rocking. It’s likely that neither of these amiable New Yorkers finds himself relegated to “just friends” status much these days, but they didn’t always have the clout that’s come with scoring an inescapable worldwide hit, Closer, which registered its billionth stream some time ago.
As a way of recalling a time when Drew Taggart and Alex Pall were just another aspiring beatmaker/songwriter duo, though, “friendzoned” is as good as anything.
The first of three sold-out Roundhouse shows starts with a sensory amuse-bouche: strobes, cartoon graphics and pillars of steam herald the group’s entrance, which is completed by a heroic leap from a platform to the stage floor by frontman Taggart. Pall makes minute adjustments to the faders as Closer’s apt hookline – “We ain’t ever getting older” – booms out. “Get your middle finger up in the air right now!” Taggart commands; thus primed, they rampage without a change of pace for the next hour or so.
This is an EDM party as influenced by Calvin Harris and David Guetta: it’s euphoric, pop-based overload without nuance, shovelling in all the drops and fragments of hits. Closer, Kanye and New York City barrel past; so, unexpectedly, do the Killers’ Mr Brightside and Franz Ferdinand’s Take Me Out. “Do you like to go hard?” Taggart roars. You can guess the answer – but going soft occasionally would only strengthen their live offering.
