There’s a buzz currently milling around new Adelaide venue, the Fat Controller. After a successful social media campaign saw an impressive line up of acts revealed to take to the stage at the old Cavern Club on North Terrace recently, the underground club venue kicked off strongly two weekends ago, with Tame Impala popping up for an unannounced DJ set on Thursday night ahead of the official opening shows featuring San Cisco and The Aston Shuffle. Last weekend saw The Delta Riggs swing back through Adelaide for a show I don’t even think they were expecting to be as chaotic as it turned out to be. What else would we expect from the Riggs, though?
I arrived shortly before the Melbourne rockers had taken to the stage and already, the appeal of the venue was obvious. Gone is the multi-coloured 60’s decor and Beatles memorabilia that once adorned the venue in favour of an industrial, dark theme. When you arrive, a giant neon Fat Controller greets you, with booths and seating options curling around the sides of the site, two bars positioned either side of the main room. The stage is in the same position as it had been in the past, but it’s pretty impossible to see any action on it unless you’re in the neck area of the little bottleneck shape that forms.
Tonight, the place is heaving with cricket-goers (the AU/NZ test wrapping up across the road at the Adelaide Oval), girls who’ve decided the Fat Controller is going to be their new selfie-zone, Delta Riggs fans from way back and everyone else who’s decided to get onboard the latest creation from the crew behind the popular Little Miss franchise and more recently, the Royal Croquet Club. I can’t fault these guys, they’ve continuously smashed their venues out of the park and now they’re hooked up with 5/4 Entertainment, the Fat Controller could seriously up the game in terms of bringing national touring bands through the city.
Back to the tunes. The Riggs have been consistently proving themselves as a brilliantly entertaining collective of musicians and as their sound has continued to evolve further, mixing in more experimental influences in amongst the classic raucous rock and roll they’ve become known for, their skills as a group become furthermore highlighted. Tonight is no different. The set is a solid banger-for-banger line up, once again showing off the excellent Dipz Zebazios. Frontman Elliott manouevres the set with his inimitable swagger, encouraging the crowd to embrace the sweaty, riled up atmosphere he and his boys have managed to generate in little to no time. The band bounces back and forth and as people start becoming confident enough to crowd surf and hang off the newly established light fittings, it’s clear that the show has become bigger than probably a lot of people expected.
The Delta Riggs throw in a little encore following the main set, but they lose a small percentage of the crowd in doing so – once the lights fall on the main set, a decent amount of people immediately bail for the stairs and fresh air/smokes. Perhaps that’s going to be a small con the Fat Controller will deal with when it comes to hosting live music here, but in any case, the people who still stuck with the boys over the last few songs ensured they were given a solid send off.
In a year where there have been some excellent Australian rock bands breakthrough and flourish, The Delta Riggs have continued to stand out as one of our best products. Long may #lesriggs continue to rule.
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