With supporting act Baseball pitching first, Transit Bar punters weren’t there for a night of easy listening – but this was a good thing.
Opening with Land of Darkness Land of Dogs, Melbourne band Baseball welcomed the crowd with a slap in the face with frontman Thick Passage on vocals and tearing it up on violin – yes, violin. Baseball showed their versatility with drummer Evelyn Morris on vocals for Lines and Lines and Lines then swapping with bassist Monika Fikerle for a few songs.
Playing to the packed house under the banner of black and white balloons, Perth quartet Snowman was intense yet captivating. With Joe McKee’s crazed vocals and the whites of his eyes on display while the other bands members hunched heads-down, rocking over their respective instruments, lost in the reverb, grinding guitars and the clashing of cymbals.
But the crowd didn’t mind, they rocked in unison with them, hypnotised.
It’s been two years since their self-titled debut album and the new follow-up The Horse, The Rat And The Swan doesn’t disappoint.
Snowman opened with the manic Our Mother (She Remembers). Followed by the haunting first single The Plague and its infectious chorus “We are the plague, We are the virus”. With their set list following the track listing on their new album, the sax even made a live appearance. Other standouts include Daniel Was A Timebomb and Diamond Wounds. Mid-set out of nowhere Andy Citawarman backed into the unsuspecting audience, dividing the crowd with violin in-tow, then launched onto the stage for more dark, industrial post-punk genius.
Transit Bar was Snowman’s last stop on their national tour before heading home for their farewell show (they’re moving to London) and although their set was short, it was a case of quality over quantity with Snowman giving Canberra a taste of what’s to come.
