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Let there be rock!

The usual surrounds of Elder Park had been transformed in to an open air rock stadium playing host to Grinspoon, Shihad, Magic Dirt and the disappointing Adrian Belew Power Trio for the Rock night of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival. On paper this looked a solid line up and a good value for money show with three of the four acts providing good value for money entertainment.

Timing with Christmas events and other festivities probably contributed to the lower than expected crowd of three of four thousand there but thumbs up to those who rocked out.

Magic Dirt were up first bang on 7.30pm and it would have been nice if organisers actually publicised the times of when all the acts were on stage rather than trying to guess or rely on mental telepathy. Catching only the last two songs I did on reflection regret not getting there earlier to catch their full set. Adalita was in fine form but it did look like it took a bit of work to fire up the crowd.

After a short change over Shihad hit the stage and lifted the intensity. It was a shame that the nimrod introducing each band couldn’t even pronounce Shihad’s name right. Shihad in short were fantastic! I don’t ever recall these lads ever putting in a bad performance and I’m sure they would have won over a few new fans on the night.

I think any band going on after Shihad would have their work cut out as they seem to have the knack of being able to pull out all stops and raising the bar to mammoth proportions. They play with such spirit, energy and belief in their own music. The set was a good mix of old and new with Alive, General Electric, My Mind’s Sedate, Run, Wait & See, Comfort Me (with audience vocals) and Hear The Other to wrap up their set.

The majority of punters were there to see Australian stalwarts Grinspoon and they should have been the obvious headline to close the night. With the majority of the crowd scampering to gain a good vantage point down front they weren’t disappointed with what followed. I think it took a couple of numbers to blow out the cobwebs but they were off to a flyer with Black Tattoo and Hard Act To Follow.

Front man Phil Jamieson did look a little under the weather and slight dishevelled but then again looks can be deceiving. Their greatest hits set covered What U Got, 1000 Miles, More Than You Are and the big crowd pleaser Chemical Heart. Even Phil acknowledged that it was hard to believe that their set was almost over with Lost Control and Champion closing out a well received set.

At this point it really did seem like this was the finale as Adrian Belew Power Trio really didn’t live up the status of a headline act. The majority of the crowd can’t be wrong either as they cleared out on mass opting not to put up with this rubbish. Maybe he does have a place in the Festival but not with this line up of bands on Rock Night. Organisers really did get it wrong on this occasion and failed to see which band was the crowd puller – Grinspoon by a long shot (followed closely by Shihad and Magic Dirt). I did recognise the first couple of tunes as they were the only lyrics in the songs including Writing On The Wall, Ampersand and Dinosaur but by this point it was time to pack it in and head home.

Three out of four isn’t bad!

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