Over the course of his band’s four studio albums, The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel has located the sweet spot between rock’s classicism and its freakdom. That marriage is never more evident than during their live shows, when the Philadelphians take off on one of their transcendent wig-outs.
Despite its title, Live Drugs reins in those lysergic urges in favour of straightforward renditions of nine studio tracks plus a faithful cover of Warren Zevon’s Accidentally Like A Martyr. Of course, The War On Drugs’ ‘straightforward’ is a world away from that of every other band: the coruscating beauty of The Strangest Thing is disrupted by a fuzzed-out solo, while the urgent Red Eyes sounds like The E Street Band trying their hand at krautrock. Even at their most MOR, as on Thinking Of A Place, they still sound like they’ve just wandered in from another dimension, hair askew and T-shirt splattered with the remains of last night’s pizza.