Following the cancellation of WA’s three-day festival Southbound – due to the Waroona and Districts fires – Sunset Events and VenuesWest came together with a group of artists who were to perform at the festival to play a benefit concert at HBF Stadium (10 January).
Koi Child was first act of the night – patrons still flowing into the venue, collecting drinks and establishing their places in the mosh pit. The mixture of brass instrumentals and hip hop held perfectly, producing a R&B-funk sound.
Click here for photos from the show.
Vocalist Shannon Patterson lightened the mood of the night after suggesting to the audience that he felt like crowd surfing. “I crowd surfed for the first time last night. It was great – someone grabbed my balls.” Definitely something to giggle about.
Koi Child - Image © Siobhan BlakeWA locals San Cisco continued to provide feel-good vibes with tracks from their most recent record, 'Gracetown', along with some older fan favourites like 'Awkward' and 'Fred Astaire'. These guys always get the crowd moving – one of the few performances I can say is better live.
Scarlett Stephens is the epitome of girl-power, killing it on the drums along with her angelic voice – heard in the hit 'Magic', which the crowed lapped up eagerly. Stephens continued: “Thank you all for coming and thank you to Sunset for organising this – it’s very special.”
Birds Of Tokyo - Image © Siobhan BlakeBirds Of Tokyo had a ripper of a set and were not one to miss – performing a mixture of old favourites and new hits. This is the type of music that gives you warm fuzzies, which was heightened by by the ecstatic vibe of the crowd and heat in HBF Stadium. BOT performed a beautiful rendition of 'Plans' that they combined with Survivor’s 'Eye Of The Tiger', a mash up that worked perfectly.
The set continued with 'I’d Go With You Anywhere', getting the crowed up and dancing. Frontman Ian Kenny then slowed it down a bit, paying his respects to the fire fighters of Australia and particularly the south west stating: “All the firies, all the service men and women… respect.” The band then performed their hit 'Lantern' as a montage of photos from the Waroona and Yarloop fires were projected onto the screen behind BOT.
Bloc Party - Image © Siobhan BlakeBloc Party commenced their final Australian show as the second last act of the night. Vocalist Kele Okereke is an awesome frontman, interacting with the crowd while his resonating vocals produced goosebumps throughout their set.
Unfortunately one of their guitars wasn’t quite in tune – slightly taking away from the vibe of the set. Luckily this was taken into consideration by the band, stopping the set momentarily: “The people of Perth deserve a tuned guitar, am I right?” – crowd erupted into cheers while said guitar was tuned.
Bloc Party - Image © Siobhan BlakeDisclosure provided an epic performance for the end of the night. The duo played a remix of one of their newest hits, 'Magnets' – definitely one of the biggest hits of the night. Guy Lawrence, one half of the hit duo, told the crowd to “donate as much as you can!”
Disclosure - Image © Siobhan BlakeSunset Events should be commended for their organisation of the event at such short notice. The whole night ran smoothly, the venue was perfect and the staff worked tirelessly to ensure there was always sufficient supplies of alcohol, food and free water. More than $150,000 was raised on the day that will be donated towards the Lord Mayor's Distress Relief Fund Waroona And Districts Fire Relief Appeal.
Click here for photos from the show.
