Watching the young lads from Fox Hunt leave their posse of blonde girls and take the stage, I found myself mentally calculating how many brassieres would later be thrown during their set.
A dozen? Alas, no. Regardless, the newcomers were deserving of praise and have already garnered significant credibility purely by including a left-handed guitarist in their line-up. Hey, it worked for The Beatles. While Fox Hunt definitely challenged Ringo Starr in terms of songwriting prowess, covers of Bloc Party should be left to Bloc Party, or Seal if he’s been drinking.
The crowd was still thinner than Johan Bruyneel’s credibility when Machinery Hill took the stage. It wasn’t the band’s fault that Brisbane was being blown off the face of the Earth. I’d never seen these guys before, and was more open to being blown than when David Patraeus checks his email. Mentally blown, that is. Despite a somewhat nervous start, Machinery Hill did quickly win me over. A good live band plays to its strengths, and these guys seemed to have definitely taken note that they possess a singer worthy of any major label. Although the band does lack some direction, to raise this as pure, unabated criticism would perhaps be unfair.
Besides, the subsequent guided tour of ‘80s glam and 2000s pop was executed with such sufficiency even Rick Perry would have been proud.
