Reviewed onTuesday January 10
Sydney hard rockers Bare Bones have opened for tonight’s headliners in the past. Truth be told, they’ll probably do it again. It’s an obvious pairing, given the stylistic parallels, but the two years since their last team-up has seen Bare Bones grow even tighter and more confident in their approach to big-wheeling, tough-as-nails riffs and fist-raising choruses.
They’re quickly followed by Canadian post-hardcore outfit Counterparts, who went through some major shifts recently that left vocalist Brendan Murphy as the sole remaining original member. As such, the current incarnation of the group feels somewhat nondescript and perfunctory, with only Murphy showing any proper enthusiasm for the songs being played. He meets with quite a few fans in the front row, but the performance doesn’t quite expand beyond that niche at any given time.
If Murphy wants some tips on how to carry a band, you’d hope he’s paying attention to Jason Aalon Butler. As the intense, unbridled vocalist at the helm of Letlive., Butler has evolved into one of post-hardcore’s truly great, irrepressible frontmen. His captive audience this evening is equal parts people physically throwing themselves into every single groove and swerving breakdown, and people overcome by the passion and emotion within Butler’s lyrics. If that weren’t enough, he’s backed by the impeccable drumming of Loniel Robinson, as well as right-hand man Jeff Sahyoun, who fills out the songs with sturdy guitar and complementary backing vocals. Letlive. are a force to be reckoned with and a thoroughly entertaining live prospect.
Although conditioned to small, sweaty rooms without a barrier, Buffalo natives Every Time I Die adapt well to playing a bigger room, feeding off the energy of every last party animal that has come to make this mosh pit their own. 2016’s Low Teens gets the lion’s share of the setlist this evening, with highlights including the big-swinging ‘The Coin Has A Say’ and the pummelling ‘I Didn’t Want To Join Your Stupid Cult Anyway’. Older favourites such as ‘We’rewolf’, ‘Bored Stiff’ and ‘No Son Of Mine’ are also unleashed to a huge reception – the latter even sees freshly mulleted guitarist Jordan Buckley launch forth into the throes of the crowd and play the last part of the song while being crowd-surfed around.
Every Time I Die have been raising hell in Australia for over a decade now. If tonight is anything to go by, they are far from done.
