Pendulum

When: 31st March 2024
Location: OVO Hydro

Pendulum are one of the most exciting electronic acts of all time. Coming to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on 31st March 2024.

Somewhere in an Australian drum and bass club in 2002, electronic music changed forever. It was there that Rob Swire first met Gareth McGrillen and convinced him to team up on a project that fused their shared love of rock, metal and electronica into something no one had heard before. One auspiciously failed hard drive (and a chance meeting with DJ Paul “El Hornet” Harding, who offered to play Swire and McGrillen’s own music instead of his usual setlist) later, Pendulum was born.

Releasing their critically acclaimed debut album, Hold Your Colour, in 2005, which included monster tracks ‘Slam’, ‘Fasten Your Seatbelt’, ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Blood Sugar’, Pendulum became known for their unique blend of high-tempo productions and energetic shows. By the time 2008’s platinum-selling follow-up In Silico dropped, Pendulum was one of electronic music’s biggest live acts, with the album spawning the now historic productions ‘Granite’ and ‘Propane Nightmares’.

Headlining stages at festivals worldwide, including Download, Sziget, Creamfields, Coachella, Rock am Ring, Reading & Leeds and T in the Park, Pendulum’s momentum continued to grow, performing to an audience of over 50,000 people at their UK headline tour – which included two sold-out shows at Brixton Academy that were later released as a full live CD/DVD. Their third studio album, Immersion (2010), shot straight to No.1 in the UK album charts, with guest appearances from metal giants In Flames, The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett and Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson. The album featured their highest charting single yet, ‘Watercolour’ (No.5), as well as successful tracks ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘The Island’.

The band had exploded into the mainstream, which was cemented further by a pair of huge live shows at London’s Wembley Arena and another summer of performances at major festivals, including the penultimate slot on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, and headlining slots at Download, T In The Park, V Festival and Bestival. After hitting the peak of their success, Pendulum went on hiatus, and the guys shifted their focus onto their Knife Party project.

Fast forward to 2016, and with Knife Party reaching a similarly dizzying headline status, Swire and McGrillen played a one-off show with Pendulum at Miami’s Ultra Music Festival. Reinforcing their place at the top table of electronic music with a joint headline slot that combined both Pendulum and Knife Party performances, the show featured all the fan favourites, and special guest appearances from deadmau5 and Tom Morello. Releasing their greatest hits package in 2018 along with a remix album, The Reworks, it was a closing out of all of the band’s previous chapters, paving the way for something new. Featuring 13 colossal Pendulum songs, from early Hold Your Colour single ‘Streamline’ to Immersion’s ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘Watercolour’, artists such as Skrillex, Noisia and Moby were all eager to contribute their remixes.

Their Trinity DJ shows in 2021 saw the three founding members of Pendulum – Rob Swire (Anscenic), Gareth McGrillen (Speed) and Paul Harding (El Hornet)– perform together for the first time in a decade, allowing them to road test their new music from the Elemental EP, with the full return for the live band in 2022 seeing them perform across Europe. (Including a surprise performance at Reading & Leeds Festival.)

2023 marked a new chapter for Pendulum, with new music, a new documentary and a major UK tour announced for March 2024.