LIVE – THE LIVING END, Perth WA – 5th November 2012

Shane | 12 November 2012 | Reply

THE ROSEMOUNT HOTEL
Reviewed by Kevin Curran

A sold out crowd gathered at the Rosemount Hotel on a unusually wet and cold Spring Monday night to watch the Living End play their debut album “The Living End” in its entirety.

Looking around the room, there were a wide variety of punters including many who would remember the band smashing through to commercial success with this gem of an album back in 1998.

Kicking off with a 10,9,8…. countdown to a short documentary on the band from its humble beginnings to becoming one of the biggest bands in Australia, including touring the country on limited funds and winning 2 ARIA Awards the same year this album was released was a nice touch to the start of the show, giving the crowd a sense of nostalgia and excitement for what was to come.

Playing the album start to finish meant that their famous anthem, “Prisoner of Society”, a song usually reserved for a normal set closer instantly whipped the crowd into a frenzy, there wasn’t a soul in the room who didn’t scream along for this one.

Within the first half of the set, we were treated to some serious hits. “Second Solution”, “West End Riot”, “All Torn Down” and “Save The Day” were all belted out and the crown lapped it up.

I have to say, having seen the Living End the last couple of times on a big festival stage, it’s much more enjoyable seeing them in their own show in a packed pub – their music thrives in this environment.

Upright bassist Scott Owen gave the crowd a little bass solo before the band played a song written by Owen called “I Want A Day”, about the 9-5 ‘slave to the wage’ working week – something we all can relate to even some 14 years after the release of this album.

The band finished the set with the instrumental “Closing In”, showcasing front man Chris Cheney’s incredible work on the guitar. Cheney never seems to get enough credit for his efforts and many times tonight the hairs on the back of my neck stood up from his excellent lead work.

The Living End are a supremely tight band and tonight, they showed gratitude to the old fans for sticking with them through the early years. It’s not every day you find a band who will play a venue 7 nights straight, and pack it out with loving fans who remember every lyric, night after night. This is a credit to the band themselves as world-class performers – and I’m sure the punters will stick with them for many more years to come.