Reviewed on Saturday March 14

“…Unless anyone is tired?” It was a cheeky rhetorical question put forward to the crowd by Kingswood lead vocalist Fergus Linacre. Gauging from the response, nobody was, so the Melburnians continued their reign of energetic rock’n’roll with ‘Side To Side’, the third song in their encore of the night – but the fun didn’t start or end there.

Earlier in the night, five-piece Brisbane band The Belligerents had opened with an injection of indie-pop. A little later, Lurch & Chief took the stage with their mix of ’60s- and 90s-influenced jams, dynamic sound and massive stage presence. The dynamic duelling between lead singers Hayden Somerville and Lili Hall was highlighted on tracks like ‘On Your Own’ and a sultry cover of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’. Playing songs from their Wiped Out EP, the Melbourne collective won the crowd over with infectious tunes, seductive lyrics, rad drum solos and an onstage chemistry that was hard to beat.

By the time Kingswood had played through an epic main set, jamming over songs from their hugely popular debut album Microscopic Wars and EP Change Of Heart, including ‘I Can Feel That You Don’t Love Me’, ‘Sucker Punch’ and ‘Change of Heart’, the four-piece was on point and had plenty more to give to the rowdy Saturday night crowd at the Metro. Delivering unapologetic ’70s rock’n’roll, highlights included ‘Eye Of The Storm’, ‘Ohio’ and ‘Micro Wars’ which had the crowd peaking as Alex Laska nailed one of his many ridiculously good guitar solos. Energy was high and hair was flying everywhere. So it should be.

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