Dry Cleaning at O2 Academy Brixton: live review and photo gallery

When I think back to watching Dry Cleaning play their biggest show to date at the ironic O2 Academy Brixton, the only words that come to mind are: Julie Delpy in Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy. Taking their acclaimed third album Secret Love on tour across the UK, the post-punk sprechgesang quartet delivered a staggering performance in Brixton, full of their iconic dead pan and dry wit, complete with songs about lost tortoises and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

It is Florence Shaw, the front woman of Dry Cleaning, who conjures the Julie Delpy memory. In “Before Sunrise”, Julie Delpy’s Céline teases Ethan Hawke’s Jesse by putting on a Nina Simone song and doing an impression – and it’s full of quiet confidence, humour and that effervescent je ne sais quoi. It embodies the indescribable, self aware cool that makes you want to buy whatever she’s selling, whether it’s “songs about housework” or missing a transatlantic plane.

My Joy Division loving self really enjoyed the post punk, often hypnotic and shoegaze-adjacent soundscapes. Lewis Maynard with his leopard print bass and Tom Dowse riffing out on the guitar making the most of the spacious Brixton stage. And the crowd was loving it, with Florence encouraging dance and remarking that “we’ve got some [dancing] zones now. Don’t get too tired, there are a few songs you can dance to coming up, including this one!” as the band launched into their breakthrough ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’.

It’s reassuring to see bands who came up through grassroots venues, and not that long ago were packing out MOTH Club and The Windmill fill up London landmark venues such as O2 Brixton – as the internet kids say these days, “we made the right ones famous” and it was a thrill to see Dry Cleaning triumph on stage. Their Secret Love tour continues across the US, Australia and New Zealand in May.