The first time I saw Aesthetic Perfection on stage was supporting Combichrist in Glasgow. I instantly loved their music and the energy of the show and immediately said to my friend – “next time they come back I am going to see them, hope it’s soon” So of course when I heard they were coming to Ireland & the UK to do their own tour to promote their new album “All Beauty Destroyed” I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to hear the album and when I did I thought it was amazing so I knew we were going to be in for a treat. Daniel had said he was going to perform a mix of new songs and old favourites to keep everyone happy.


Support was provided by Dublin band Alibitrax, a duo with Al on vocals and Will on keyboards. I had already seen them play in Belfast at Cornucopia and liked them. They are really energetic, and they put on a great show that gets the crowd going. Al has a specially made mic stand that he can climb up. He started off straddling it as he belted out their songs including “Collision”, before stripping off his t-shirt and running out into the audience. Then it was back up onto the mic for what was a bit like a religious experience, balanced there, arms outstretched crucifixion style for their last song “Salvation” They really were fantastic – I was already excited before Aesthetic Perfection even got near the stage.


Aesthetic Perfection - Elliott’s suitcase had decided to go to Norway instead of Ireland so it was a bit of a shame he didn’t actually wear the tiger suit the promoter offered him. Thankfully he did manage to get some backup clothes so didn’t have to play naked. It looked like Tim had lost some of his clothes as well. Definitely seems to be the in thing for drummers to play half naked – no complaints from me there. Daniel was resplendent in his beloved white jacket. They launched straight into “A Nice Place to Visit”, had a few “technical difficulties” and a good laugh – “Where better to f*ck up your first gig of the tour than in Dublin? Third times a charm” and we were off...

Crawdaddy is a tiny, dark, intimate venue and it was perfect. Getting so close to the band is an important part of the experience and of course I’d managed to get myself right up to the front. As promised Daniel treated us to 7 songs from “All Beauty Destroyed” and 5 from “A Violent Emotion”. We loved it. The more they played the more worked up we got. Daniel has an amazing voice and every song he sang got an appreciative scream from us. It was great to hear the crowd singing along to all the songs, including the new ones. I was screeching along at the top of my voice and dancing so much I couldn’t be bothered taking notes any more. I think even Daniel laughed my singing was so bad but I didn’t care, I was having a blast. The show was nonstop. Tim was killing the drums and Daniel was striding round the small stage alternating between standing on the amps and kneeling down at the front singing to the crowd. To be honest I didn’t see much of Elliott on keyboards but when I did he looked like he was enjoying himself too. I have no idea how long they played for - it just flew in. It was a total pleasure to be there to be able to see Daniel putting on his own Aesthetic Perfection headline show the way he wanted it to be, rather than having to rush through 30 minutes as a support act. They finished the set with “Celebrity Sin” before coming back for their storming encore “Spit it out” We were still screaming for more even after all that but I think we were just being greedy.


I’d joked about this but I’m going to mention it again, sorry Daniel... I would have absolutely loved to hear some of “All Beauty Destroyed”. It is such a beautiful song. I know it’s not exactly a dance along crowd pleaser but as it’s the title track of the new album I really think it deserves to be heard live. Even just belting out the chorus at the start or between songs would have been the icing on the cake of a perfect night. (Maybe in Manchester? Hint, hint lol) I asked one of the other guys there what he thought of the show and he said “They had fun; you could see they were enjoying themselves” Well we had fun too. It was fantastic having you in Dublin, thank you Aesthetic Perfection. The UK is indeed in for a treat.