Perth rocker Abbe May rolled on into Melbourne town this week amidst a haze of hard drinking hype, bringing fellow WA two piece Hootenanny along for the ride.
Hootenanny put on one hell of a show. Jennifer Aslett and Nanwyn Hunt are strange individuals who play ‘blues punk crunk in your fanny’. Weird whimsy aside these girls know how to rock and they play with a fun energy that is impossible not to enjoy. Hootenanny won the audience over with their hilarious banter and stage apparel. Both girls were sweating it out in Indian head dresses and Russian hats as they powered through an impressive set of ballsy, rollicking rock.
They took turns to share the limelight, proving their multi-instrumental prowess swapping at regular intervals between drums and guitar. Highlights of the show included the very enthusiastic dancing man in the front row catching a t-shirt they threw into the crowd which led to more of his limb flailing madness, and the girls’ own excitement at mustering up a crowd away from their home town where their mothers weren’t present so they could swear with reckless abandon. Hootenanny are a fun act with a ripper live show. Keep an eye out for more from them in the future.
Abbe May’s band of men got the party started with a long intro to “Universes” before the scintillating siren confidently walked onstage and wooed the masses with her dulcet tones. May has a calm stage demeanour that was vastly different to the rock chick persona that has been spread around the interwebs. She plays with a passion and charged through a short, sharp set showcasing the material from her recently released LP Design Desire.
Highlights of her set included nice versions of “Carolina” and “Design Desire” a long with some new material that kept the bulk of the audience enthralled. May finished off the evening with a solo rendition of “Blood River” and a cover of the Muddy Waters classic “I Just Want To Make Love To You”.
May is an excellent musician and the band are incredibly tight, however their set was disappointing as their live show added nothing to the potency of the studio recordings and was really no different from listening to the album at home – asides from being pushed around the packed band room and being gouged $8.60 for a pint. There was a notable lack of energy from the players and while May’s humorous banter about hard drinking and cocaine lived up to the rock cliche it would’ve been nice if their live show also lived up to the hype.
