The Living End sure know how to put on a show. I’ve now seen them live several times, and they never fail to bring the damn house down. Sunday night was no exception – these Melbournians rock. There was something in the air as well that night – as I looked around the Enmore Theatre, I felt an electric vibe of anticipation that filled every seat, row and toilet.
The Enmore Theatre is celebrating its 96th year in business and played host to one of Australia’s most original and powerful live acts. A healthy crowd were there early to bare witness to the ballads of In The Grey. The Central Coast act received a healthy response to their latest single, These Broken Wings, and generally got the crowd into the swing of things.
By the time Dallas Crane hit the stage, the theatre was a packed scrum of eager individuals, waiting to get their eyes on a band that has gathered quite a bit of media interest over the past year. And while they played well and sounded great, their predictable music didn’t go down so well with the people, who were clearly here to see a band that knows how to differentiate. Dirty Hearts and Ladybird sounded good, but at the end of the day they were just another supporting rock band. Dave Larkin at one stage shouted out “Let’s see some action!” and I stood there saying, “Yes, lets…”
We were here to see The Living End and The Living End is what we got. They started off things with their latest single I Can’t Give You What I Haven’t Got and from there it went a little crazy. They ripped off powerful versions of Save the Day, Who’s Gonna Save Us? and All Torn Down. From my position at the back of the floor area, the moshpit looked like a sea of bodies – if you went into it for a swim, chances were you were going to need floaties to not get hurt.
After a sweet rendition of the Mash theme, the band took a quieter break, bringing out an acoustic guitar for a slower (if you could call it that) part to the night. This was immediately counteracted with a sterling effort of Prisoner of Society and Roll On – definite favourites of the night. They finished off the gig with West End Riot and came back for an encore consisting of One Said to Another and Carry Me Home. Just awesome.
I guess if I had any criticism (besides the volume level being a little low and the lighting a tad uninspiring) it would be that the set was quite predictable – The Living End know how to smash out the crowd pleasers but don’t play other, less popular songs (Uncle Harry would have been great!).
But as my companion on the night said, “The crowd was pumping, the booze was pumping, The Living End was pumping, Enmore Theatre was pumping, EVERYTHING was pumping, so what else can you ask for?” and you know what? I agree.
