Dead Letter Circus, Closure in Moscow, Wolves @ The Zoo, Brisbane (16/08/11)
The ‘No Fracking Way’ tour is a way for Dead Letter Circus to bring the issue of coal seam gas to the forefront of the minds of Australia’s youth. Having personally studied this issue briefly in high school, I was aware of the impact it was having on the environment and was pleased that one of my favourite bands was passionate as well. Having a fantastic line-up of some of Australia’s leading emerging alternative rock bands, this was sure to be a great evening at Brisbane’s, The Zoo.
Arriving midway through Wolves I am greeted by a sizeable crowd who have evidently come out early to check out the breakout Perth alternative rockers. Interestingly, their traditional guitar, bass and drums set up also featured an electric violinist. It brought a different texture to their heavy sound, which included some pretty impressive screams from the front man. They played through their debut EP, finishing with new single Children. All in all, most punters seemed to enjoy the last few songs of the set and the band has a promising future.
Next up was Melbourne’s Closure in Moscow, a band who has slowly been making waves in local independent scene. When the lead singer rocks up a silver cape complete with matching leggings, you know that you’re in for an entertaining show. Unfortunately, despite the bands best efforts to rev up the crowd, there seemed to be a multitude of sound issues. This made every song seem as though it was just wall of noise with no distinct clarity between the different instruments. This was a shame, as the band have built up quite an impressive array of tunes that I was thought would translate well to the live stage. Nevertheless, they weren’t put off by the tech problems and still gave it their all in a still entertaining and energetic show, finishing with breakout single Sweethart.
Dead Letter Circus finally made their way onto the stage after 10:30pm starting with traditional opener The Mile. It was noticeable from the outset that the sound was improved from the previous set, but there were still a few issues that hadn’t been sorted out. Combined with the obvious fact that singer Kim Benziehad a vocal problems, he was using a throat spray and drinking copious amounts of water between each song, meant that the usual perfect sound that the band bring to their live shows suffered. However, the vocal crowd more than made up for this, singing along every word of the well known tracks such as Reaction and Lines. This made for a fantastic connection between the band and fans, which climaxed when a front row punter celebrating his birthday was helped on stage and given a chance to jump off and crowd surf throughout the mosh pit.
Finishing up the main set with fan favourite The Space on the Wall and massive hit Next in Line, the band left the stage and numerous cries of “one more song” broke out. Inevitably the band returned shortly to finish off with the double punch Here we Divide and the appropriately themed This is the Warning. It’s clear that Dead Letter Circus remain a favourite of the Australian alternative rock scene, however having toured this album constantly over the 18 months, the guys seem to be worn out and deserve a break. Hopefully the next time we see them in a live setting, the will be refreshed and armed with a second album full of new tunes.
Sebastian Betten
Arriving midway through Wolves I am greeted by a sizeable crowd who have evidently come out early to check out the breakout Perth alternative rockers. Interestingly, their traditional guitar, bass and drums set up also featured an electric violinist. It brought a different texture to their heavy sound, which included some pretty impressive screams from the front man. They played through their debut EP, finishing with new single Children. All in all, most punters seemed to enjoy the last few songs of the set and the band has a promising future.
Next up was Melbourne’s Closure in Moscow, a band who has slowly been making waves in local independent scene. When the lead singer rocks up a silver cape complete with matching leggings, you know that you’re in for an entertaining show. Unfortunately, despite the bands best efforts to rev up the crowd, there seemed to be a multitude of sound issues. This made every song seem as though it was just wall of noise with no distinct clarity between the different instruments. This was a shame, as the band have built up quite an impressive array of tunes that I was thought would translate well to the live stage. Nevertheless, they weren’t put off by the tech problems and still gave it their all in a still entertaining and energetic show, finishing with breakout single Sweethart.
Dead Letter Circus finally made their way onto the stage after 10:30pm starting with traditional opener The Mile. It was noticeable from the outset that the sound was improved from the previous set, but there were still a few issues that hadn’t been sorted out. Combined with the obvious fact that singer Kim Benziehad a vocal problems, he was using a throat spray and drinking copious amounts of water between each song, meant that the usual perfect sound that the band bring to their live shows suffered. However, the vocal crowd more than made up for this, singing along every word of the well known tracks such as Reaction and Lines. This made for a fantastic connection between the band and fans, which climaxed when a front row punter celebrating his birthday was helped on stage and given a chance to jump off and crowd surf throughout the mosh pit.
Finishing up the main set with fan favourite The Space on the Wall and massive hit Next in Line, the band left the stage and numerous cries of “one more song” broke out. Inevitably the band returned shortly to finish off with the double punch Here we Divide and the appropriately themed This is the Warning. It’s clear that Dead Letter Circus remain a favourite of the Australian alternative rock scene, however having toured this album constantly over the 18 months, the guys seem to be worn out and deserve a break. Hopefully the next time we see them in a live setting, the will be refreshed and armed with a second album full of new tunes.
Sebastian Betten