When you bring back three of Queensland’s loudest and proudest musical exports for a sold out, hometown gig (10 May) there’s no way it’s not gonna be a party.
Wading through the sea of band merch and beanies we saw Dune Rats, the scruffy little sibling of the line-up, bound energetically onto the stage. Leaping straight into ‘Dali Lama, Big Banana, Marijuana’ the crowd were lapping up the boys Jackass-esq antics.
Dune Rats - image © Daniel FosterAlthough there’s certainly a frenzied aspect to the Dunies sound they really appear to have tightened up their set. It was none more evident than when drummer BC Michaels prefaced a song with ‘This is new, it's probably shithouse’; they then proceeded to play two and a half minutes of brilliantly-polished stoner rock. If this is the direction that Dune Rats are heading down then the future is going to be very bright indeed.
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Unassuming yet technically perfect middle child, DZ Deathray’s came sidling into view next accompanied with an outrageous roar from the bubbling crowd. As soon as the crunching guitar chords of ‘Less Out Of Sync’ rang out through The Tivoli the audience began to absolutely lose their minds with kicks and punches flying from all directions.
DZ Deathrays - image © Daniel FosterThis is often the added perk of a DZ/ Dunies/ Soho gig; if you, for some unfathomable reason, get bored with what’s on stage you can always just turn your head and watch people kick the crap out of each other in time to music. DZ’s latest single 'Blood On My Leather' had the boys stumbling a bit but they pulled it back in with a rip-roaring rendition of 'Gina Works At Hearts' that had the crowd screaming along to every single word.
DZ Deathrays - image © Daniel FosterAs the tension grew for the older, wiser, more successful eldest child that is Violent Soho to make an appearance we finally got to see where Soho has put some of the sweet, sweet ARIA charts money. Now. I’m talking glowing-band symbols, dramatic reveals and I don’t want to ruin all the surprises for anyone who has tickets for an upcoming show but the boys have upped their stage set-up.
The band stuck mostly to a 'WACO'-themed setlist with a couple of tasty treats chucked in for the long-time fans. ‘Neighbour Neighbour’ was the first track that really got the crown pumping as lead singer Luke Boerdam’s perpetually boyish face spat out the vengeful lyrics. Latest single ‘So Sentimental’ took it down a notch, but really allowed the band to shine as performers and composers rather than just noise mongers.
Violent Soho - image © Daniel FosterAfter a brief pause to guilt someone into getting down from the rafters of The Tivoli, the band rewarded the audience with floor-shaking track ‘Viceroy’. There was a heart-warming moment during this song when the audience were screaming the lyrics and Boerdam couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. This infectious smile soon caught onto the rest of the band and by the end of the song four out of four members were beaming from ear to ear.
Rounding things off with fan favourite ‘Covered In Chrome’ the crowd confirmed that it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve heard it there’s still nothing like screaming “HELL FUCK YEAH!!” with a couple hundred of your fellow comrades.
Violent Soho - image © Daniel FosterGuitarist James Tidswell made an astute observation during the gig when he said: “five years ago anyone on this line-up could have been playing a house party in Brisbane and now we’re playing sold-out shows at The Tivoli, so let’s just pretend we’re playing a fucking house party!” Proving once and for all that no matter how big you get or how far you go, family will always be family.
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