Little Red @ UniBar, Adelaide(18/10/08)

Mon 20th Oct, 2008 in Gig Reviews

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Local band Bakewell Street kicked off the night and straight off the bat they were cursed with sound problems. Lead singer Tom Opie could barely be heard over the top of the drums and electric guitars, and then to make matters worse only a few songs in Opie’s acoustic guitar gave out. The rest of their performance consisted of sound engineers walking around trying to diagnose the problem. The frustrated singer was forced to play without his guitar for a couple of songs making him look incredibly nervous and awkward as he stood with his hands burrowed into his pant pockets. Despite the sound problems however Bakewell Street did manage to make an impact on the audience with their unique smooth country rock sound and Opie’s southern drawl. Unfortunately it just wasn’t their night.

Fire! Santa Rosa, Fire! may not have had any sound problems, but they didn’t even compare to Bakewell Street. Their music, although it is energetic and initially engaging, lacked any real substance. Most songs consisted of just one line of lyrics that were continuously repeated much to the bemusement of the crowd. The breaks between songs were filled with lead singer Dave’s banter. Although the audience loves to be collectively talked to by a band, Dave’s senseless ramblings became rather irritating and towards the end of their set his repartee started to overtake the music. The one good thing that I can say about them is that they each can play their instruments, but together the band just sounds like a mish-mash of sound.

Luckily the main act Little Red didn’t disappoint with their distinctive – œdoo wop punk’ brand of music. Dressed in their customary black pants and white shirts the five guys didn’t waste any time getting straight into their songs. Their set was split up into two parts – the first consisted of all ballads and the second was dedicated to the more rock driven songs.

Little Red is a very rare band indeed, as they don’t just comprise of one lead singer. Instead there are three: Dominic Byrne, Quang Dinh and Tom Hartney, each possessing unique voices making it feel as though your getting three bands all in one. Crowd participation played a huge factor in their live show as the audience was asked to clap their hands or join in with the singing.

With their old style music, one could easily presume that a Little Red gig would be tame and docile, but the opposite was true. When the band played their most well known songs Misty I and Coca Cola the crowd started jumping and pushing people forward making the dance floor turn into a mosh pit. The band also didn’t hold back as they played their instruments with complete abandonment thrashing their guitars and drums.

The stand out member of the band that got everyone’s attention was Taka Honda who is probably the happiest drummer I have ever seen. He played the entire show grinning from ear to ear genuinely happy to be performing. Every now and then in the middle of a song he would quickly stand on top his seat and wave his arms around as if he couldn’t contain his excitement.

Having been the first time I’ve seen Little Red live, I have to say that I was shocked by the crowd’s reaction to their music. People in the audience were shoving, pushing and even falling all over each other during their show. Perhaps this is the key to Little Red’s sudden success for they manage to make people feel happy and therefore lose their inhibitions. Either that or their were a whole lot of drunk uni students at the performance.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE