A small crowed rolled up early to witness local three-piece Damn Terran kick off the evening with their post-punk fury. Damn Terran put on a ripper show with their passionate, energetic delivery. Front man Lachlan Ewbank has a compelling presence and his fierce vocal screams were perfectly suited to their massive sound.
Damn Terran are a tight act who were clearly enjoying their time in the limelight as they thrashed about onstage, only stopping briefly to take a moment to thank the audience for coming down early before Ewbank launched himself into the crowd for their final song. Keep an eye out for upcoming shows from this lot. Their set was a lot of fun and they play the kind of music that was made to be enjoyed loud and live.
DZ Deathrays have been garnering a lot of press of late for their frenetic sounds and after catching their set. I now firmly believe the hype. Shane Parsons and Simon Ridley are two noisy, rowdy bastards who channel Death From Above in an endearing fashion. Their reckless swagger and pulsating lights display was intense enough to cause epileptic fits as the band lost their shit onstage attempting to wake up the nonchalant crowd, who in typical Melbourne style were thoroughly engaged while emitting an air of indifference. In short, DZ are fucking nuts and put on a killer show with their mental energy and frenetically, fast-paced tunes. They have a powerful live presence that is accentuated by their furious sounds and their set was a thrilling, sweaty, delight.
Children Collide can be a hit and miss live and they were slow to gather momentum, opening with a lacklustre version of “We Live In Fear”, with the crowd barely moving as they launched into a lifeless rendition of “Skeleton Dance”. Johnny Mackay noted the lack of response from the audience and fortunately this fired up the band and they quickly got their shit together, inciting the crowd into some riotous antics with a cracking performance of “Economy” that saw Mackay leap offstage, surfing on top of his fans.
They treated the punters to some new material from their forthcoming record, that sadly sounded very similar to the material from Theory of Everything which was littered with pale imitations of the indie-rock gold that featured on their debut The Long Now. Regardless of my own personal aversion to their newer tunes, Children Collide slayed it onstage, with the band room erupting in a sea of disjointed limbs as the revellers in the mosh took a cue from Mackay and became awash with violent crowd surfing wankers.
Children Collide made up for their meandering beginnings with mad renditions of “Social Currency”, “We Are Amphibious”, “Farewell Rocketship”, “My Eagle” and “Jelly Legs”. Mackay had the audience wrapped around his little finger as they thrashed along with the band, only pausing occasionally to converse with the fans who were yelling out requests as Mackay told them in good humour to ‘piss of with their requests, my request to you is to shut up’, before playing the songs they asked for. Children Collide powered through a thunderous set that was over too quickly, with the band opting not to do an encore and ending on a self-indulgent instrumental jam that left the audience riled up, begging for more.
The potent combination of Damn Terran, DZ Deathrays and Children Collide made for one the sweatiest, intense Australian live shows I’ve been to this year. If you missed out on this tour than you need to punish yourself severely for missing one of the best parties on offer this winter.
