A Place To Bury Strangers – The Grand Social, Dublin – Live Review – 30/08/26
by Killian Laher

The visit of A Place To Bury Strangers to Dublin two years ago was one of the most visceral concerts your reviewer has ever witnessed.  Returning to the same venue, could they repeat the trick?  Support came from German band Die Anstalt, a synth-dominated trio, who overcame both a broken bass string and singer Carmen Redeker’s broken foot to deliver a spirited set of dark, 80s-inspired electro.  Redeker had plenty of energy, and despite the injury, climbed up on one of the supporting bars on the stage to hang upside down!

Oliver Ackermann was on stage next, bashing the hell out of a metal sheet before being joined by the rest of the A Place To Bury Strangers.  At an insane noise level, they opened the set with Disgust, mixing older songs like Dead Beat and I Lost You with newer ones like You Got Me.  After a wild version of We’ve Come So Far, the band brought themselves and their instruments right into the crowd, where the drummer bashed away on a single drum, supported by the bass player while Ackermann growled into a mic.  It’s a trick they pull regularly, but it thrilled the audience- nothing like having drums bashed right in front of you!

They returned to the stage for the almost conventional Missing You before turning the intensity right back up with I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart.  Here Ackermann hung his guitar off the supporting bar of the stage, before pulling the drum forward for the drummer to test out her lungs on the closing Have You Ever Been In Love.

A Place To Bury Strangers are a unique, almost out-of-body live experience, and an absolute assault on the senses.  If it was just about ear-splitting noise, that might not be so enjoyable, but this, combined with the unhinged stage performance, made for an unforgettable evening.