Astra, Berlin



This is my first Death Grips show, and there’s no support act.

Instead, an ominous Shepard Tone (a disconcerting auditory illusion in which sound appears to be endlessly rising or falling without resolution) rings out, while the stage stands empty for about 20 minutes. Eventually the group show up, motionless as the Charles Manson monologue from Beware – the first track from their debut mixtape Exmilitary – plays over the system.

What follows is a relentless, chaotic mess of a set (this is a good thing). The three blitz through an hour’s worth of material with no breaks, no audience interaction, no thank yous and no encore. Pulling tracks from across their discography, the group debut old tracks live for the first time (Warping from 2016’s Bottomless Pit) and drag out the hell-raising single Guillotine.