Live Review: The Internet

It’s always a 50/50 call in the Concert Hall over whether or not the audience will get off their comfy seats to dance in the aisles, but The Internet opened strong with 2018’s Come Together and managed to keep the vibe there, with most of the audience staying in those aisles for the rest of the night. Overall Hive Mind was the dominant album of the evening, but Ego Death was not neglected with tracks like Gabby and Girl bringing down the house. They even dipped further back into 2013’s Feel Good with Dontcha.

As is apparently now tradition, Syd Tha Kyd (aka Sydney Bennett) prepped the audience for Just Sayin/I Tried with a short call-and-response tutorial on how best to shout, “You fucked up!” They did cut the track in half though, never quite making it to the I Tried portion of the song – a clear move to keep energy high. Bennett prefaced It Gets Better (With Time) with a heartfelt note about the song's origins: “We didn’t write this song about a break-up, we wrote this song about depression – something I’ve been dealing with for years – but it does get better.” She ended the song with a sincere dedication to the family of a friend they lost to the condition. Sincere is a good word for The Internet. They’re cool in an effortless, swaggering kind of way, yet theIR rapport with the audience was built on a foundation of what felt like real, intimate honesty.

Lead guitarist and crowd favourite Steve Lacy ended Beat Goes On with a promise that “The album is coming.” Bennett went on to add “It’s finished,” so get excited – new music may be imminent.

Unfortunately, the generally excellent set was not without its kinks, with pretty uninspiring audiovisuals, an overreliance on backing tracks and a deeply disappointing audio mix – a surprise in a venue usually known for its exceptional sound. Tonight, the drum and bass reigned supreme with Bennett’s vocals almost completely lost for big chunks of songs.

The gig finished with an explosive Get Away, and no encore. The band lingered on the stage for five minutes after the final song to shake hands with the front row, pose for photos and just take in the unceasing applause. The Internet are a band with effortless charm who, despite being let down by a poor sound mix, got the crowd onboard early and kept them there for the whole show. With 2018’s Hive Mind being such a strong entry to the discography, their setlist is now nothing but bangers and crowd pleasers, and that’s very easy to love.