Trial Kennedy, Numbers Radio,The Bloodpoets @ The Step Inn,Brisbane (18/3/2011)

Thu 24th Mar, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The Step Inn is filling up slowly but surely as The Bloodpoets take to the stage. With some new tracks to showcase from their upcoming EP, the lads and lady launch straight into their set.

The loss of guitarist Jason Marles doesn’t seem to faze the band as they continue to show off their talents and their easy to listen to rock tunes. Crowd favourites are Dance and Borderline from their debut album Polarity, but the newer tracks are also well received from the punters.

Numbers Radio are up next and continue with the energetic vibe that The Poets have created. David Orr and Robbie Carlyon are on song with their vocals and the crowd join in the sing-a-long choruses with vigour.

The real rockstars of the night are most definitely in Melbourne’s Trial Kennedy.

Tim Morrison must go through a few of those brown shirts and white wife-beaters as it seems to have become his chosen uniform for every gig he plays. Dress sense aside he is a talented musician and performer and tonight he is ready to let loose again.

The band have new material from an album ready to drop in May, and tonight they promise to showcase the old and new in their collection.

The gems off New Manic Art such as The Great Escape and Sunday Warning are always well received and tonight is no exception. The Step Inn is packed and the crowd loves every minute of the lads set. Stacey Gray is as always talkative between songs as he both engages the crowd and shreds through each song with relentless energy.

It is easy to see where Trial Kennedy has grown as a band. Their newer tracks show more maturity and more flowing rock than some of their previous efforts which seem to stop and start and try too hard to be something they are not. But one thing that seems to work quite well is the way they play around with their well-known tracks. The different introductions to songs such as War King show off their creative talents on stage.

Strange Behaviour and Best Of Tomorrow are a couple of new tracks that are played tonight, and they are really good; just great rock with no pretenses or extra airs and graces that don’t need to be there. The set does slow down briefly as Morrison croons a cover of Australian Crawl’s Reckless is cheekily slipped into amongst the tunes.

The only shame of the night is when they announce they are going to do an older song but then play something off their debut longplayer. New Manic Art is a good album but Tuesday Shoes or Knife Light. from their earlier EPs would have been brilliant. Whether the band feel that they have outgrown playing these tracks live remains to be seen, but Trial Kennedy still put on a great show and entertained the punters from start to finish.