Live Review: The Delta Riggs

Riddled with pleasurable contradictions, The Curtin is spacious yet intimate, clean but delightfully sticky-floored and new but appropriately spangled with cheesy, outmoded glitter streamers, all of which speak to The Delta Riggs in the most flattering way. It's because this band, regularly tagged “genre-benders”, have developed a knack for simultaneously playing a gritty rock gig and a piano-lacquered pop show all in one flawless, 50-minute set.

Three songs in, lead man Elliot Hammond plays “one for the ladies”, a rich, impassioned version of Better, which is the final track from the band's debut album, HEX.LOVER.KILLER. Shortly after, America, another adored and well known track from said album, is served up to the eager audience. When the centrepiece of the night, Supersonic Casualties, arrives, it is perfect proof that the band can fuse together unbridled ambition, a staunch work ethic and a downright good time without any part of this wicked concoction lacking. This track also serves as a reminder of time spent touring with the likes of Divine Fits and Primal Scream, and suggests some of these bands' infectious passion and confidence might have rubbed off on The Riggs. The eclectic lyrics of this single also highlight The Riggs' ability to fuse '60s psychedelia with their hip hop influences, as lines such as, “We were  marchin' around/In our marmalade shoes/And a peppermint rain/Washed off our troubles and blues,” float dreamily through the room. Elliott Hammond and band charge on and invite the crowd to select a “new or old song” to play next, and while he gets little immediate instruction, the enthusiasm for what proceeds is nothing short of zealous. Consequently, the track that just keeps on giving, Rah Rah Radio, follows along with Money and Soul Train.

It's easy to imagine The Delta Riggs charming the pants off any audience, whether boogying in a Berlin band room, swigging beer with Londoners or waxing lyrical with the Dutch.