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The Bellrays - 18th March, 2008 - The Corner Hotel, Melbourne |
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by Tom Perry
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Tue:01-Apr-08 |
Power. Some bands have it, some don’t.
The BellRays, as those who were at Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on a Tuesday in March will tell you, have it in spades.
Having taken countless people by surprise with their on their 2007 tour of Australia – which included a headline spot at the inaugural Golden Plains festival – the Bellrays returned to Australia, with an audience that this time understood what they were about to take in.
Support slots from American ‘freeway rock’ specialists Dirty York and garage punkers Rocket Science warmed the crowd up – the latter bringing a fun element of sleaze to the gig. In fact, there was clearly an element of the audience here to see this hometown band, with their performance earning a great deal more than the stock standard ‘support band’ response from the crowd.
Front man Roman Tucker – an odd man to watch at the best of times (he does look and move a little like Har Mar Superstar with a few more clothes on) – gave his all, regularly tipping over his organ, mucking with his theremin (an odd box-shaped instrument that gives off some wild screams that perfectly suit Rocket Science’s frantic sound) and generally bouncing Peter Garrett-style all over the stage.
However the moment The BellRays hit the stage, energy levels lifted far beyond what even Rocket Science could achieve.
Opening with ‘Pinball City’ from soon to be released LP Hard, Sweet and Sticky, the whole band were in top form. Frontwoman Lisa Kekaula, who is known to maintstream audiences from her work with Basement Jaxx has a presence few American evangelistic preachers could even ever hope to achieve. She acutely understands the oft-testy relationship between the performers on stage and their audience, and works her energies appropriately. She calls for action: “This is a give and take people! We give, you give, we take, you take!”
But oddly – despite how when it’s written down it may sound aggressive – there’s not a sense of disappointment in these words from Kekaula, merely a performer encouraging her audience to shake off their Tuesday night shackles and cut loose. And fortunately, they did. ‘Blues for Godzilla’ from 1997’s Let It Blast provided one of the evening’s biggest highlights – with Kekaula joining the crowd and dancing away with some very happy punters.
Most of The Bellrays’ previous record Have a Little Faith was missing from the set, but it didn’t matter. The sound hasn’t changed, the energies certainly haven’t, but thankfully the crowd understanding and appreciation has.
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