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Live Reviews : Eagles of Death Metal, Rocket from the Crypt & Mutemath @ The Hi-Fi, Melbourne 24/02/2014

By on February 25, 2014

What seemed like a bit of a jumble of genres for the Eagles of Death Metal Sideshow, turned out to be to one great night of rock music. Heading in I didn’t think that Mutemath or Rocket From The Crypt were going to be a great match and held concerns that either the crowd wasn’t going to get into the early bands, or their fans were going to leave. How much pleasure it gives me to say I was wrong.

Eagles of Death Metal

Opening the night around 30 minutes late, New Orleans alt-rock band Mutemath took to the cramped stage to a three quarters full Hi Fi Bar. Blazing through their electronica infused set, the band was tight and quickly won over a crowd that certainly wasn’t there to see them. Highlights of their seemingly short set were Typical and Reset, the latter turning into a 15 minute set closing epic in which frontman Paul Meany crowdsurfed on a blow up mattress that was covered in lights followed by drummer Darren King straddling the barrier, rack tom in hand as he, Meany and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cardenas took us on a Taiko drum inspired journey.

After a band changeover that seemed to take forever, although not as long as the one that followed, Rocket From The Crypt took to the stage to rapturous applause. It’s been around 12 years since this San Diego punk band has graced our shores and the crowd let the band know that they were missed. Rocket From The Crypt have a cult like following in Australia, never really having any airplay that I have heard, even on community radio, but the majority of the crowd knew just about every song. While the sound for them was a little muddy they are definitely a well-oiled unit with the set moving along at a cracking pace. There was a lot of crowd interaction and a good deal of banter, including referring to Australia as Austria on multiple occasions. With another almost 10 minute epic to close their set, frontman Speedo decided to share with the crowd his thoughts on jetlag. No, I wasn’t the only one in the crowd uncomfortable with his thoughts that it is a worse disease than AIDs, or his inability to control his own “excitement” at the sound of a lady in the hotel room next door…which wasn’t. While all meant in good humour I am sure, it was clear this put a dampener on an otherwise great set.

After 45 minutes of waiting (yes…45 minutes!!) Eagles of Death Metal took to the stage. Frontman Jesse Hughes resplendent in his high-waisted jeans, black tshirt and cape. The man saunters and swaggers around the stage, at times almost in a state of obsessive compulsive. Hughes has total control of the crowd as the band indulges our eardrums with 90 minutes of dirty, sexy, rock and roll including tracks Cherry Cola and I Want You So Hard from the album Death by Sexy and Cheap Thrills, amongst others, from Heart On. Hughes not only has a great relationship with the crowd, but the interaction between the band is fantastic also. Featuring “Diamond” Dave Catching on lead guitars, Brian O’Connor on bass and Joey Castillo on drums it is hard not to describe these three as “face-melting”. Castillo is a monster behind the kit and O’Connor’s bass is full of fuzzy, stoner riffs while Catching is as entertaining as he is talented as he solos his way through the set. Coming out on his own for the encore, Hughes gave the crowd a solo rendition of Kiss the Devil and a cover of Taking Care of Business before he was rejoined by the rest of the band to close out the night.

While it seemed on the outset an interesting mix of bands it turned into one entertaining night of rock and roll. If you are heading to Soundwave this Friday and you weren’t at the Hi Fi Bar tonight, then you should be trying to catch all three of these bands doing their thing. You won’t be disappointed.

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