Another overdue post, you say? Oh, why not.
September 5th (my my my, it seems so long ago!) brought an air of anticipation to a grand total of perhaps forty people. Forty people who attended a five-bands-for-ten-bucks gig at the Underground in this humble town of Adelaide, with decent merch prices, and only two bucks for a bottle of water, less than half the usual price! (Yes, that was a highlight for me.)
First to take the stage were All Hallow's Eve, one of the many youthful bands in the Adelaide scene, and sure enough they managed to warm the crowd. Oddly, there was a three-man circle pit forming at their first song, which was certainly a highlight - that and the performance of Mt. Franklin ("Like the water"), in addition to a spontaneous guitarist piggy-back. Guys who can pull off playing on someone's shoulders? I'm sold.
A Lapse in Reality have a good musical sound, a talented bassist, and potential is undenaible, yet sadly, the frontman has no stage presence aside spontaneously stripping his button shirt and tie. That only works if you have sex appeal, mate. One concert-goer remarked that his desire was to strangle said frontman with his own tie. Sadly, that may not have gone down so well with the band.
Next on were Deafening Silence, and that was when the place started to heat up. With an interesting sound fusing elements of prog, thrash and metalcore; a female drummer - something all too rare in metal; and a giutarist who even looks like Kirk Hammett, there's no denying that Deafening Silence are of that special breed of local band who just might have the potential to break out, and while some elements could still use a bit of work, the raw talent is most certainly there. I left with a CD, and am still impressed.
Satoria have already proven themselves among Adelaide's finest, with a progressive sound influenced by the likes of Dream Theater, soaring vocals, switches in sound through songs, and haunting, enchanting keys. Despite only having time for a handful of songs, Godspeed in particular inspired some wild headbanging, motly delivered by keyboardist Lennie and one girl at the front (who may or may not have been yours truly, as it were). An album is demanded. Let us only hope this talented bunch delivers.
Last but certainly not least, Skintilla delivered the perfect closing set, consisting of a good, solid handful of songs from both the Shedding Skin EP and debut album King of Kings. Skintilla are one of those strong bands with a good pub metal sound, typically Australian yet having the potential to appeal to an international market. Whether or not that is a plan for them is a different matter; for now, they seemed perfectly content chatting to the twenty or so people who watched their set, delivering anthems like King of Kings, Fall From Grace and crowd favourite, Sword For Sword. Rock on, Adelaide. Rock on.
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Alice? Who the f*** is Alice?!
Alice Cooper, that's who. Vincent Furnier. The Coop. The man who changed the course of rock 'n' roll forever, and looked mighty fine doing it.
Yes, I am fully aware that this blog is LONG overdue, but this intrepid blogger has been busy with other commitments.
On August 29th, Alice Cooper himself graced the fair Thebarton Theater, bringing his latest rock spectacular, the Theatre of Death tour, to Australia. The atmosphere was nothing short of electric, the crowd eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of this superb performer.
The banner fell to the floor, and Alice emerged to wild cheers, immediately launching into School's Out - a peculiar choice for an opener, but a good one nonetheless. Disregarding the security staff's warnings to stay seated for the first four songs, the audience opted to follow the advice of the guitarists, dashing from their seats to lean on the stage and dance to further hits like Department of Youth and the classic I'm Eighteen.
Stalking around the stage, Alice proved he can still rock with the hardest with the industrial stomper Wicked Young Man and reminded us that he can hold his own better than those forty years his junior. After all, when you're seeing a man whose career has lasted since the tail end of the sixties, and is continuing into the new milennium and his own sixth decade of existence, you expect nothing but the best.
Though the acoustics were a let-down - Alice's microphone was barely audible over the music and general excitement at times - the crowd more than made up for it, belting out the anthems as loud as Alice himself. The master of darkness chose to play it safe for the night, selecting "classic Alice" - inclusions like The Ballad of Dwight Fry and Go To Hell cemented the fact that this was anything but an albumsupport tour. In fact, only one song from latest offering Along Came a Spider was selected - the sneering Vengeance is Mine.
With four executions, numerous constumes, an angle grinder, evil masks, spider arms, a wheel-on staircase, a gallows, iron maiden, guillotine and lethal injection as big as Alice himself, this was clearly a show as memorable as the man himself. From the opening (anthem School's Out) to the closer (er... School's Out, again, this time delivered in a silver and white suit complete with coattails and top-hat), Alice delivered song after song, throwing everything to the crowd - fake money, balloons, confetti, guitar picks, pearl necklaces, and even his cane. The old man certainly proved he's got at least one more tour in him yet!
Rock on, Alice. You keep coming, we'll keep going.
Yes, I am fully aware that this blog is LONG overdue, but this intrepid blogger has been busy with other commitments.
On August 29th, Alice Cooper himself graced the fair Thebarton Theater, bringing his latest rock spectacular, the Theatre of Death tour, to Australia. The atmosphere was nothing short of electric, the crowd eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of this superb performer.
The banner fell to the floor, and Alice emerged to wild cheers, immediately launching into School's Out - a peculiar choice for an opener, but a good one nonetheless. Disregarding the security staff's warnings to stay seated for the first four songs, the audience opted to follow the advice of the guitarists, dashing from their seats to lean on the stage and dance to further hits like Department of Youth and the classic I'm Eighteen.
Stalking around the stage, Alice proved he can still rock with the hardest with the industrial stomper Wicked Young Man and reminded us that he can hold his own better than those forty years his junior. After all, when you're seeing a man whose career has lasted since the tail end of the sixties, and is continuing into the new milennium and his own sixth decade of existence, you expect nothing but the best.
Though the acoustics were a let-down - Alice's microphone was barely audible over the music and general excitement at times - the crowd more than made up for it, belting out the anthems as loud as Alice himself. The master of darkness chose to play it safe for the night, selecting "classic Alice" - inclusions like The Ballad of Dwight Fry and Go To Hell cemented the fact that this was anything but an albumsupport tour. In fact, only one song from latest offering Along Came a Spider was selected - the sneering Vengeance is Mine.
With four executions, numerous constumes, an angle grinder, evil masks, spider arms, a wheel-on staircase, a gallows, iron maiden, guillotine and lethal injection as big as Alice himself, this was clearly a show as memorable as the man himself. From the opening (anthem School's Out) to the closer (er... School's Out, again, this time delivered in a silver and white suit complete with coattails and top-hat), Alice delivered song after song, throwing everything to the crowd - fake money, balloons, confetti, guitar picks, pearl necklaces, and even his cane. The old man certainly proved he's got at least one more tour in him yet!
Rock on, Alice. You keep coming, we'll keep going.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
