Peace Review At Ding Dong Lounge

UK Indie Rock band, Peace, stop by Ding Dong Lounge for a night of transcending, Psychedelic Pop. Read our Peace review to find out how you could bag yourself some free tickets to their Sydney show on Friday 8th May. 

One of the greatest things about festivals? Sideshows. This weekend was no exception with UK Indie Rock Band, Peace, stopping by Melbourne’s Ding Dong Lounge en route to Groovin The Moo.

Peace quickly became more than just a backyard name with the release of their very first 2013 studio album ‘In Love’. The youthful, four-piece rockers have since supported the likes of The Libertines and scored a spot at the 2014 Leeds and Reading Festivals. With the recent release of their second album ‘Happy People’, Peace are set to perform at Glastonbury as they continue to gain momentum in the international indie rock arena.

Eager to jump onboard the hype wagon, I ventured on down to Ding Dong – one of Melbourne’s most talked-about, intimate live music venues – to catch a glimpse of the support act Smile. The Melbourne boys, although slightly nervous, churned out some promising rock tunes as the crowd slowly grew from 20 to 120.

The young groupies soon rolled in, eager to catch a glimpse (or lock of hair) of Peace – comprising of brothers Harry and Sam Koisser, Doug Castle and Dom Boyce. The boys soon took to the stage, opening with a featured single from their recent album, ‘Money’.

With a tongue-in-cheek and slightly mischievous energy, the long-haired, youthful four-piece oozed into ‘Follow Baby’ – their debut single which initially cast them into the limelight – soon followed by a taste of ‘Happy People’ with a buoyant singalong to ‘Gen Strange’.

Heads were bopping, eyes were gazing lovingly (by the 15 young girls at the front of the stage) and the pace was escalating as the band jumped right into ‘Lovesick’.

As we arrived at the half way mark of the performance, the pace started to pick up as the band graduated from boppy, youthful ballads to strung-out, electronic Psychedelic Pop.

I could soon see why the Peace’s four-man harmonies, mix of fast paced guitar riffs and strung out, high electric notes have compared them to the likes of the Beatles, Foals, The Music and Kasabian.

‘California Daze’ soon had those who weren’t dancing dancing! Teasefully, Peace slipped into a Zeppelin Intro ‘Babe I’m Going to Leave You’ or for those of you who aren’t Zeppelin experts – ‘Baby, Baby, Baby, Baby’ – before transcending into a hit from ‘In Love’ – ‘Wraith’. This came as no surprise with Zeppelin a major influence of the band’s members.

At this point the entire crowd were captivated by the Birmingham boys, their skills and ability to “be in” the music overwriting just how youthful they appeared. Peace soon had us lost in an electronic, eight-minute time lapse before picking up the pace, yet again, to end the show with their recent, hit single ‘World Pleasure’.

From fast-paced, ballad-type rock, to sophisticated, electronic pop, Peace had us dancing! Cannot wait to see which side of the sound spectrum Peace will persevere.

Catch Peace at their Sydney show Friday 8th May. Free tickets here.