LIVE: Kingswood, Perth – 27 March, 2015

LIVE: Kingswood, Perth – 27 March, 2015
Capitol, Perth, Western Australia – Friday, 27 March, 2015
Review & Photography by Stu McKay

Since the release of their Change Of Heart mini album, Kingswood’s popularity has grown steadily over the last couple of years and with the critically acclaimed album Microscopic Wars under their belt, they have solidified themselves as a glowing beacon of Australian Rock.

Judging by the dense crowd and Kingwood shirts, the punters were more than eager to see these hirsute gents from Victoria rip it up onstage, and rip it up they did. Kicking off with a trilogy of hard hitters in She’s My Baby, All Too Much and the octave-laden Suckerpunch, they were firing on all cylinders, displaying a sound, look and presence that made you realise that these guys are the real deal.

They brought the energetic riffing down for a moment in exchange for the gloriously groovy-to-play ICFTYDLM, a track that really showcases their songwriting prowess, and thanks to high rotation on Triple J, has become a massive crowd favourite. An extended version of Eye Of The Storm heralded one of the most epic moments of the set. It boiled with an abundance of passion and intensity led by the super tasty lead playing of Alex Laska and brought the set to an unusual interlude phase half way through.

As they returned to the stage singer Fergus Linacre decided to ‘choose someone at random to come on stage to have a little chat.’ Picking ‘you with the Kingswood shirt’ the gentleman pulled his girlfriend onstage with him. It soon became clear that this was no random chat onstage but an organised marriage proposal. This sent the crowd into a frenzy as everyone cheered for Tim as he got down on one knee, holding out the ring and singing ‘should I stay or should I go’ – a lyric from Kingswood song Ohio, to which her nodding in the affirmative heralded deafening cheers from everyone in the venue. It was a special moment for all involved and one that the couple will never forget.

Playing Ohio for real once the proposal was finished made for the loudest sing-a-long of the night, almost making Linacre’s attempts at singing it almost redundant. Yeah Go Die, the band’s breakout song was definitely the pinnacle of their set tonight with the breakdown breaking necks, indicated by a sea of moshing heads. The seamless segueing of Medusa into QOTSA’s Feel Good Hit Of The Summer was also another special moment and was a fitting reminder that as much as Kingswood owe a lot of their sound to Josh Homme’s band, it’s not a cheap imitation, but more like Australia’s answer to them.

Kingswood gave it their all tonight and after a performance like this, the notion that ‘Rock is dead’ seems preposterous.

Setlist:

She’s My Baby
All Too Much
Suckerpunch
Vlad
Wolf
So Long
ICFTYDLM
Tremor
Eye Of The Storm
Interlude
Ohio
Micro Wars
Yeah Go Die
Side To Side
Medusa
Piece By Piece
Chronos
Stu McKay is lead singer/guitarist for rising Perth rock band THE NEVSKY PROSPEKT

 

Category: Live Reviews