Yes, those crazy kids known as The Grates are back touring around the country promoting their second album ‘Teeth Lost, Hearts Won’ and on Friday night they rocked a full house at the Forum in Sydney. With the reputation for being one of Australia’s most fun loving, flamboyant and active live bands this was definitely a show not to be missed.
The gig opened with two support acts; the first being the Triple J Unearthed High winners Tom Ugly, formerly known as IS followed by the heavy sounds of the well established Melbourne band Children Collide. Not knowing too much about the band Tom Ugly, I did recognise two tracks in their short set which were Roll Again and Cult Romance which was the song that won them the Triple J Unearthed high school band comp. Next on the bill was to be the heavy rock tunes of Children Collide. They opened their set with a track from their 2006 EP We Are Amphibious follower by a barrage of tracks from their debut album ‘The Long Now’ including Across The Earth, Farewell Rocketship, Skeleton Dance and ending with Social Currency. After the rockin’ performance from Children Collide the crowd was well and truly hyped up and ready to sing along to the catchy songs of The Grates and bounce around the place with the energetic and enthusiastic front woman Patience Hodgson.
In the midst of waiting for the main act I focused my attention to the random props scattered on the stage. There was a wagon wheel and some hay, a few fence palings as well as the head of a deer and a wild boar. It was quite bizarre and didn’t really make any sense until Patience Hodgson appeared on stage dressed in a cowgirl suit launching straight into the first track Carve Your Name.
I’ve seen The Grates live before and I am so amazed at the energy and stamina of the leading lady Patience. The effervescence she brings to the performance is immediately infectious. She bounced and danced around the stage for the whole concert without any hint of loss of breathe or tiredness. Her crowd interaction is amazing. She likes to involve and talk to the crowd as well as encourage crowd participation for example and I quote ‘breaking out your spirit fingers’ in the songs Burn Bridges. At one point she jumped off stage and into the crowd climbing onto the shoulders of fans to sing the song Trampoline.
The next half of the set continued with more boot scooting and dancing to Milk Eyes, 19 2020, Science is Golden and the last track Inside Outside. After a short break the band returned to the stage for the encore joined by the lead singer from the support band Tom Ugly. Patience and Tom sang a duet before closing the night with Aw Yeah which was well received by the crowd.
The Grates are always so much fun to see live. If you’ve never seen them before I highly recommend you do. Definitely a show not to be missed and I guarantee you’re in for a fun filled ‘grate’ time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment