LIVE: LOOKOUT FESTIVAL – SAT 20TH APRIL, Perth With LIVE, INCUBUS, BIRDS OF TOKYO, ESKIMO JOE & SUPERJESUS

LIVE: LOOKOUT FESTIVAL – SAT 20TH APRIL, Perth With LIVE, INCUBUS, BIRDS OF TOKYO, ESKIMO JOE & SUPERJESUS
Reviewed by Melanie Scrafton
Photos by Luke Baker

It’s over 30 degrees – there’s limited shade – no sea breeze – and thousands of over-excited people…

Let’s do this!

If you are a fan of Day On The Green events, then this was right up your alley… but first…

Whitfords Nodes Park boasts a tiny car park, reserved today for organisers of this event. Thus, the event tried to provide a Shuttle service and Ride drop off area for Lookout Festival, unfortunately it still resulted in in road rage and car chaos – better luck next time.

Consequently, getting into the site late meant The Superjesus were at the conclusion of their set. Superjesus are quality Australian Rock, and ageless frontwoman Sarah McLeod will still be amazing and beautiful in 20 years, quite realistically still touring too – and why the hell not. There seemed to be a strange ‘cover theme’ running throughout all the sets.

Eskimo Joe’s set ran through their back catalogue, featuring all their bangers and a new tune thrown in for good measure – another unmistakable Eskimo Joe winner.

 

Birds of Tokyo were their usual perfection in performance with crowd pleasing set list. As the sun dropped the stage lighting and visual effects came into their own. With a couple of screens on either side of stage and one behind, anyone with an obscured view was well catered for.

This event has been greatly anticipated for over 6 months, and was packed from the start, the demographic mostly mature fans, but with millennials adequately represented. Food trucks, overpriced drinks and queues for the bar were standard, as we’ve sadly come to expect from all such events.

L.A. band Incubus and Pennsylvanian Ed Kowalczyk representing LIVE teamed up for this extensive tour and Perth was the last show of this Australian leg.

Photographers are usually allowed first three songs when shooting live, but for Incubus things were different: tracks 4, 5 & 6 was when the togs could grab their images.

This made sense when the show started instrumentally and on a dark stage – visually the lighting and effects did make for much better imagery further into their set. Brandon Boyd is the INCUBUS frontman and a heartthrob for the female fans, who were swooning from ‘Nice to Know’ to their finale ‘Wish You Were Here.’

The show highlighted their talent for genre blending supported by psychedelic visual effects. Covers included The Beatles ‘Come Together’, The Doors ‘Riders on the Storm’, Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’ and definite crowd favourite, David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’. Incubus performed a dynamic and impressive set, highlighted by the finale featuring the classic ‘Drive’ before ‘Wish You Were Here’

LIVE have been on the world’s radar from their massive success with ‘Throwing Copper’ 30 years ago, with only frontman Ed Kowalczyk remaining from the original line up. Their set started with ‘Hold Me Up’, followed by ‘All Over You’ and ‘Selling the Drama’, crowd participation cranked to a maximum level just 10 minutes in.

‘The Dolphin’s Cry’ steadied the pace, and when Ed showcased new track ‘Leave the Radio On’, the country influence was indisputable. But as with INCUBUS the finale was the highlight with ‘I Alone’ and ‘Lightning Crashes’ bringing the house down.

Lookout Festival was a nice nostalgia fix for West Aussie fans and it was fantastic to see these favourite tunes performed so beautifully – well worth it.

 

 

Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries