La Dispute have found a great amount of success in their career by being unapologetically sincere and passionate.
From their lyrics that delve into the deepest parts of frontman Jordan Dreyer’s psyche, to his emotional yelp of a voice, the band are emo in the purest sense of the word.
As a rare glimpse of sun pours over the main stage of ArcTanGent late into the Friday afternoon, you can’t help but feel that the weather is slightly at odds with a band that often analyses the darker side of humanity. Thanks to the warm weather, there is a sense of celebration in the air, as guys in pirate hats, drunken stage invaders and crowd surfers all make appearances throughout La Disputes hour long set. Dreyer shows genuine concern for the latter, yelling out to security mid-song to make sure nobody gets hurt.
When the band are on though, they are on, and no amount of drunken antics from the crowd can distract from the band’s amazing performance. Despite some of the lyrics having a dark edge, the band’s music creates a steady rhythm for Dreyer’s half-spoken, half-shouted delivery, which causes much of the enchanted crowd to move in synchronisation. Dreyer is a positively charming frontman, too. Even his stage banter has a hint of the poetic to it, and his appreciation for the slightly inebriated crowd before him is obvious.
Inebriated or not, absolutely nobody can ignore the band when it comes to their final song, King’s Park, which famously tells the true story of a thug who accidently shoots an innocent bystander in a shoot-out. The crowd swells to the song’s emotional climax, hanging on to every word until the “will I still get into heaven if I kill myself” refrain that provides the Wildlife cut’s most memorable moment. When it’s over, the audience is left with no doubt that they have witnessed something special, even though it was under slightly odd circumstances.
