Rowdy and ready after a warm-up set from The Babe Rainbow, the Miami Marketta crowd piled in tightly between the pallet-lined walls to bare witness to Californian beach-goth rockers The Growlers (10 January).
It was the first show for the Australian leg of their ‘Casual Acquaintances’ tour and they took off brawling. Without much chitter chatter at all, frontman Brooks Nielsen launched into ‘Night Ride’ – a popular single from their 2016 album ‘City Club’.
The crowd knew the song word for word and although the wheels might have been wobbly with some minor sound imbalances throwing off the band's momentum, Brooks managed to get a handle on his machine and steer it back on track with style and craft.
Image © Creation Saffigna
The Growlers pull in devoted fans around the world and the Gold Coast was no exception. Throughout the sweaty hour and a half set, the boys from California wheeled through songs from their large back catalogue of seven albums and the Gold Coast audience didn't miss a beat.
The Growlers are awesome musicians with a distinct and well polished sound, but it is the lyricism and poetry of Brooks that sinks the songs deep into the hearts of their listeners.
His are the kind of songs that you can tell have been present for and marked important moments in the lives of their fans. It is written in the nostalgia on their faces as they sing along to whichever song it might have been to strike in them that vital chord.
Click here for more photos from the show.
Brooks’ themes are aplenty. Breakups, love, lost ones, existential crisis, the perils of his peers, the use of the illicit, the love of the bottle; you name it and he is there steering like a captain through his emotions while he bops mildly across the stage.
The Growlers were joined for the performance by Australian singer and guitarist Kirin J Callinan, who brought his own vivacious energy to the show. He moved around the stage with much cheek and vitality, pulling the other musicians out of themselves and bringing what seemed to be an element of improvisation to The Growlers usually meticulous and tight set.
Image © Creation Saffigna
With it being their first show to kick off the Australian tour, I think the band had set out to release some steam and shake themselves out for the shows to come.
As a whole the show was awesome, but it did seem a little less smoothly choreographed than previous shows I have seen. That being said, in a way it made the show quite fun and perhaps closer to their revelrous roots.
The Miami Marketta audience summoned The Growlers back to the stage for an encore and were rewarded with a trio of songs that included one somewhat tongue and cheek song about Australia that had had obviously been written for the tour, boogie banger ‘I’ll Be Around’ and infamous heart toucher ‘Going Gets Tuff’.
Image © Creation Saffigna
Funnily enough, it was for this last song that the audience gave their biggest and loudest reception and you could tell Brooks was quite chuffed and touched by the love being shown.
He thanked the crowd with much charm and chivalry, and ended the performance on what was a truly beautiful note.
