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LIVE: BUCKCHERRY with HARDCORE SUPERSTAR & BAD MOON BORN – Perth, 8 Oct 2019

| 9 October 2019 | 1 Reply

LIVE: BUCKCHERRY with HARDCORE SUPERSTAR & BAD MOON BORN – Perth, 8 Oct 2019
The Rosemount Hotel, North Perth, Western Australia
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
Photography by Pete Gardner

It was a trickle to start with, perhaps due to the early kickoff (and late doors opening) for this balls to the wall night of rock n’ roll, but it didn’t take long for The Rosemount band room to be healthily full for a Tuesday night, crammed wall to wall with denim and tattoos, immaculately tastefully dishevelled hair and a hunger for some rock n’ roll damnation – and, it was great to see, a maybe 60/40 male to female ratio. Whereas heavy metal is often a predominantly male thing, it seems sleaze is something we can all get behind fairly equally.

Bad Moon Born

Sydneysiders Bad Moon Born are pretty much an unknown quantity to Perth audiences, but they took full advantage on their first ever visit here and made everyone early to the gig immediate fans. They’re a hard-hitting, tight trousered, thunderingly heavy and mightily loud quintet with obvious experience and charisma, and a swag of excellent songs. While frontman Jordan Von Grae pranced around the stage guitarists Voya and Ned Concar and tight A.F. rhythm section Nick Allen and John Ezilmez laid down a swampy combo of sludgy Sabbath, Soundgarden and Circus of Power grooves which sometimes reminded this writer of minor ‘90s heavyweights Mantissa. Take Me Away, Witch Trials, Carry On and Road Warrior all impressed, though a plodding cover of Alice In Chains Man In The Box seemed unnecessary when their originals were of such high quality.

Hardcore Superstar

Hardcore Superstar took things to the next level from the moment they took to the stage. There’s no preamble: This Worm’s For Ennio, their spaghetti western homage from the Beg For It album, serves as an intro track, then Jocke Berg launches full tilt into Moonshine. There’s no weak link here, this Swedish foursome are tighter than… well tighter than Australia’s greedwhore Prime Minister seems the best analogy… and they are truly the real deal. As they lead the cheering, singing, clapping crowd through We Don’t Celebrate Sundays, Wild Boys, Last Call for Alcohol and You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘n Roll, it’s clear from the beaming, happy faces both onstage and off that these guys are lifers, playing for their love of rock n’ roll rather than riches or glory (though they deserve both as well). The full tilt punk n’ roll No Resistance makes a rare live appearance, having not been played since 2011, then closer Above the Law sees their roadie starting to dismantle the drum kit mid song. This little skit seemed a bit too staged and cheesy after such an authentic rock show, though it didn’t stop the crowd giving them throat-scrapingly raucous whoops of appreciation.

Buckcherry are uber-tattooed frontman Josh Todd’s baby now, since long-time foil and partner in (many) crimes Keith Nelson’s disgruntled departure in 2017. Famously a recovering alcoholic and addict, Todd is at pains to point out mid-song in Whiskey that, “this song is not a party song – it’s a cry for help! Because when I drink, I’m a taker – no give, just take.” Fuck knows how he feels about singing these songs, then, when most of Buckcherry’s best are about hedonistic excess – and he’s cheered on by a room full of people seemingly oblivious to the irony as they guzzle beer and whiskey.

Buckcherry

A pedestrian and throaty opening cover of Nine Inch Nail’s Head Like A Hole aside, Todd’s vocals warm up rapidly, and he leads the throng on a wild ride through the singalonga cocaine chant of Lit Up, the glorious ‘fuck you’ of Somebody Fucked With Me, ‘pussy’ anthem Sunshine and Too Drunk… before taking it home with an unexpected cover of ‘80s party song Footloose and a pedal to the metal Crazy Bitch that had the entire room singing as one – even through snippets of Jungle Boogie (KC & the Sunshine Band) and Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival). An encore of Say Fuck It is the icing on the cake before Todd beckons our own photographer Pete Gardner onstage to take a spectacular photo of the band in front of the crowd.

A rock and roller’s dream gig, this was a superb night of great, fun, hedonistic tunes. For my money, I’d say Hardcore Superstar were the band of the night, because they seemed hungrier, looked like they were enjoying it more and were more passionate – but that shouldn’t detract from Buckcherry’s gig, which did not in any way disappoint. Kudos also to young rockers Bad Moon Born, who can hold their head up high while playing with two of the best rock bands on the planet.

Hardcore Superstar setlist:
Moonshine
Electric Rider
We Don’t Celebrate Sundays
Wild Boys
Bag on Your Head
Last Call for Alcohol
You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘n Roll
Liberation
No Resistance
Above the Law

Buckcherry setlist:
Head Like a Hole
Whiskey
Ridin’
Radio Song
Lit Up
Somebody Fucked With Me
Right Now
Sunshine
Too Drunk…
Sorry
Greed
Bent
Footloose
Crazy Bitch (with Jungle Boogie and Proud Mary snippets)

Say Fuck It

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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries

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Editor, 100% ROCK MAGAZINE

Comments (1)

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  1. Lulu says:

    Ace review! Already pissed I missed it but you just pissed me off more (you emphasized how good it was) hahaha!

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