There was a bizarre mix of people inhabiting the Corner band room, ranging from overly excitable teenage girls to a few of the over fifties club, all eagerly awaiting the arrival of headliners Red Ink. The supporting line-up was equally as diverse as the crowd, with local four piece Royston Vasie kicking things off with their sweeping old school rock sound.
Royston Vasie are far from being a superb live act, but they do pub rock very well and the band all appeared to be enjoying their time on stage and emitted a fun relaxed vibe. Their sound was ambitious and well executed and the band received a warm round of applause as they walked off stage.
Next on the billing were San Fran Disco, another local group who appeared to have a number of fans in the audience calling out song requests. Their sound was fairly standard commercial pop with the band showcasing some pleasant keyboard melodies and melodramatic balladry that had the audience up and moving.
I didn’t find their set to be particularly engaging as their style of music is not my thing, and their presence therefore did not excite me, but the majority of the crowd seemed to lap it up and gave the band a thunderous send off at the end of the short set.
Frankston natives Red Ink know how to entertain a crowd and the adoring masses who had piled into the Corner to see their show made a stark contrast from the handful of punters who fronted up to see them at the Evelyn during my first live experience with the band last year.
Front man John J oozes charisma and the crowd went off as he appeared onstage, topless and adorned in red body paint and set about making the ladies swoon with his sex on legs style dancing. Their music is high energy pop that simultaneously brings to mind the likes of INXS and the brit-rock nuances of The Futureheads and Kaiserchiefs.
While I personally find their music to be overly derivative and boppy, there is no denying the power of a Red Ink live show. The band take their cues from John J, with all four of them delivering a ripper performance that had the more inebriated members of the audience attempting to crowd surf.
Highlights of the night were fantastic renditions of “Catching A Killer“, “Battlescar”, “What My Friends Say” and “Werewolf”. John J had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, worshipping him like a God as he got them singing and clapping along and cheering wildly as the band destroyed a few of their props mid song.
Red Ink are a great live act that take every gimmicky, clichéd trick in the book and use it to their advantage. Their set was a lot of fun and left the punters smiley, drenched in sweat and begging for more as the boys finally walked off stage to a rapturous round of applause.
