Die Antwoord, Live at The Olympia

There is something incredibly surreal hearing hundreds of people swear in Afrikaans on a Thursday night in Dublin. But when Die Antwoord launch into ‘Fok Julle Naaiers’, the first single from their second album Ten$ion, the crowd screams along. In case you were wondering, it translates as “Fuck You Fuckers”, which rather encapsulates Die Antwoord’s attitude – swaggering, uncompromising, vulgar and funny.

The crowd is an interesting mix of hipsters, glam girls, bluestockings and ravers, which points to the band’s crossover appeal. Musically, Die Antwoord, don’t exactly break new ground, but that hasn’t stopped their two studio albums – and rather incredible videos – from spawning a huge number of hits. Over the course of the evening we are treated to ‘Wat Pomp’, ‘Evil Boy’, ‘Baby’s On Fire’, ‘I Fink U Freeky’, ‘Wat Kyk Jy’, ‘Fatty Boom Boom’ and for the encore, the track that started all the madness, ‘Enter the Ninja.’

The energy on stage, and in the crowd, is high-octane, and the sweat is running down the walls. If Die Antwoord may just be a high concept, performance art parody, but nobody here, least of all the band, is complaining.