Pendulum Take Their Show to the Middle of the Sea In One-of-a-Kind Live Performance

Livestreamed and recorded sets during quarantine have seen artists taking their performances to a variety of new locations, from being submerged in a backyard pool to towering above the Grand Canyon. 

Now, Pendulum has taken their live show to similarly uncommon ground, in the middle of a strait that separates the Isle of Wight from England's mainland. The iconic drum & bass group recorded a set on Spitbank Fort, a Victorian military complex isolated off the coast. Prior to the recording, which included a full pyrotechnic setup and lasers, mariners were warned ahead that a robust visual performance would be taking place in the area.

Pendulum recently released a pair of songs for the first time in a decade, "Driver" and "Nothing For Free." Like many artists, the onset of the pandemic put the group's tour and comeback plans on the rocks. However, the household livestream performance trend that followed in the immediate aftermath wasn't exciting the group either. 

Pendulum's Gareth McGrillen instead became inspired to think bigger. "I think the cuteness of the kitchen set for livestreams got old pretty quick," he told Metro Newspaper UK. "I think you can still be socially distant and grandiose at the same time. We’re going to show it is possible."

"It feels like 2020 completely makes sense for Pendulum," added frontman Rob Swire. "Somehow, everything goes slightly wrong whenever we try to do something, whatever it is we try to do. So all of this makes total sense. We had a lot of plans this year, like many people I guess. First, we’d do this release, then we’d do the festivals… but now nothing’s happening. Everyone go home! It has been interesting to see it all come together. I think I think it took everyone a long time to find their feet."

Pendulum is scheduled to release their recorded performance on their YouTube channel on October 2nd, 2020. Check out their teaser below.