Violent Soho @ HQ, 23rd November ’14
Violent Soho continues their upward trajectory in to the stratosphere playing another belter in the city of churches bringing the No Sleep Til Mansfield tour to town.
It may have been a Sunday night but wow! This show will go down as one of the year’s best and the energy and intensity of their performance is pretty much unbeatable with no one really coming close. The last show at The Gov was just a taster as the band again stepped up their game. Violent Soho really seem suited to the ‘big’ shows now filling out HQ and no doubt could have sold out a second.
Right from the get go the band were relentless, fired up and super charged and so too were the crowd. Dope Calypso was like flicking the switch for the moshers and crowd surfers to cut loose, testing the strength and resolve of venue security. Lowbrow followed and the intensity was right up there maintained through Gold Coast and Neighbour Neighbour. There was no time for idle chit chat letting all the music do the talking. It wasn’t until after Tinderbox until guitarist James Tidswell (sporting less facial hair on this tour) praising the Adelaide ‘fuckers’ for their support promising that their show is 420 friendly and will be playing all the crowd favourite so ‘light up everywhere’.
There wasn’t a weak moment in their set and any criticism would be unwarranted. Seeing so many great bands it was an absolute privilege seeing Violent Soho at the height of their powers. I really dug Saramona Said and Fur Eyes and angry ‘fuck you’s’ in Muscle Junkie was just awesome. Tidswell asked “are you having a good Sunday night, we prefer this to church” before charging right in to Covered In Chrome. Literally, the crowd went mental! Moshing and crowd surfing was abundant and despite the obvious risk, security were good sports managing the safety well as they were pulled over the front barrier. Ok Cathedral was probably the longest song in the set but gee whiz it was a brilliant closer. The temperature was that hot you could almost see steam coming off the stage and rampant body odour was extreme as crowd surfers resumed their positions.
The band again acknowledged punters for coming out on a Sunday night and supporting the band in 2014. Tidswell said they were going to go all ‘super self indulgent’ in the encore dedicating the final two songs to all those who had been following them before 2014. Jesus Stole My Girlfriend – brilliant! Finishing with Love Is A Heavy Word topped off a brilliant show giving the crowd just enough but wanting more. Fingers crossed for a new album next year and no doubt they will be playing Thebarton Theatre for sure.
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
- Aversions Crown - January 27, 2017
- Sick Of It All - January 19, 2017
- Refused - January 11, 2017
