DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979
Ferris Wheelers – 6/10/25 – Dallas, TX
©M’Lou Elkins / Skip2Photography.com
Twenty years after the sonic blast that was You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, Toronto’s loudest export, Death From Above 1979, roared into Dallas on June 10, turning a BBQ joint into a rock furnace. This stop on their You’re a Woman I’m, a Machine 20th Anniversary Celebration Tour was a full-throttle reminder that Jesse F. Keeler (bass/synth wizard) and Sebastien Grainger (drummer/vocalist/human earthquake) haven’t lost a single step since the album’s release in 2004.
The setting? Ferris Wheelers, a Texas barbecue spot with an outdoor dirt-and-rock venue tucked in the back, and yes, an actual Ferris wheel looms like a carnival ride of doom. My partner-in-rock, Nadine, and I showed up early for jalapeño sausage and brisket, just in time to catch the band soundchecking The Cars’ “Just What I Needed.”
It was a stripped-down heads-up that the night was about to get loud and heavy.
As the sun dipped but the heat stuck around, DFA1979 hit the stage with their signature two-man wall of sound. The moment they launched into their set, it was like time folded back to 2004. Fuzzed-out bass tore through the crowd, drums pounded like thunder, and every riff hit with the force of a wrecking ball.
The crowd, packed with younger fans slamming into the barricade, erupted song after song. There was no generational divide here. Whether you found DFA on a Tony Hawk soundtrack or got dragged to the show by an older sibling, you were moving.
“Romantic Rights” absolutely detonated the place, with fists in the air and feet leaving the ground. Sebastien was in full showman mode, cracking jokes between songs. He told the crowd he used to hate Dallas but had totally changed his mind this time around. Blame the good vibes, the BBQ, or maybe the rental “luxury car” they drove across Texas in.
One particularly gross/hilarious moment: Sebastien took a swig from a mystery bottle filled with yellow liquid, then claimed it was Jesse’s turmeric-infused piss. Real or not, the crowd howled. Classic DFA: unfiltered, unhinged, and undeniably entertaining.
Two decades in, and Death From Above 1979 still bring the noise with the same unrelenting energy that first put them on the map. This show wasn’t a nostalgia act, it was a victory lap, and they earned every sweaty cheer.
Rock still lives in Canada. And on nights like this, it comes served with ribs and reverb.
Check out the Death From Above 1979 concert photos below:
 and Sebastien Grainger (drummer/vocalist/human earthquake) haven’t lost a single step since the album’s release in 2004.){kind=link}