Blue King Brown, Ash Grunwald,Diafrix @ Forum Theatre,Melbourne (20/05/2011)

Mon 23rd May, 2011 in Gig Reviews

Once you notice the collection of dreadlocks and Rastafarian hats, you know you’re in the right line out front Melbourne’s Forum theatre. There’s a substantial queue of people huddling together to avoid Melbourne’s winter wind whilst finishing off their cigarettes before the doors open. “I saw these guys live and their bloody amazing,” says a guy smoking what doesn’t look or smell like any Winfield or Peter Jackson I’ve had…which leads to wonder: great gig or great trip?

Under the faux blue starry sky, a stage covered in a variety of country flags with an array of instruments fill the once huge area; the wait for the opening act punctuated by several debates as to which country belongs to which flag.

Then finally Diafrix hit the stage and everyone snaps out of oblivion. Two guys go on stage to constantly repeat “how you feeling Melbourne… Let’s get the party started early!” Good energy and good songs, Diafrix do in fact succeed in starting the party early, with many making for the foot of stage to dance. Jamaica meets Jay-Z is description easily applied to the duo, with both members able to rap in sync between catchy choruses. Like some opening acts, one can tend to drift off and sneak outside for a quick smoke break but during Diafrix everybody seemed awake and singing along.

Not long after, Ash Grunwald made his way to the stage with the riffs of Led Zeppelin and vocals of Jack White. First song down, the crowd’s applause confirms their approval. It was a typically impressive set from Grunwald, replete with some great guitar solos and his most recognisable single, Walking. After a lot of string bending and sliding, he closed his set to a satisfied audience.

Lines lengthen at the bar and sound check does its thing, before Blue King Brown hit the stage at just before 10pm. In spite of being 25 minutes late, the band start a long drum intro evoking the excited yet slightly annoyed crowd. Eyes follow charismatic front woman Natalie Pa’apa’a round the stage, as she delivers her rap vocals to a roaring crowd. She quickly takes charge of the band’s blue, yellow and red flag; the image of a stereo speaker and the words ‘Blue King Brown Positive Movement’ waved above her head. Throughout their whole performance, this flag is waved proudly with mentions of its symbolism, in regards to the repression in West Papua with Indonesia. As they play through their set, Pa’apa’a takes moments to talk about the unity and peace of the crowd as well as why she loves her home town Melbourne. Soon as Come and Check Your Head comes on, the crowd goes wild and the havoc of the moshpit soon crushes many feet.

Each song allows a solo for each of the many instrument players, though it must have been the drummers’ night as the duo fantastically synchronize the one drum set for what seems to be more than 15 minutes of drum solos. Tracks Water and Stand Up, both favourites of the audience, turn the mosh pit into some ritual-like drum beating dance floor similar to that in the Lion King. Scheduled to finish at 11.10pm, BKB run over to 12am, forgiving them of their start up lateness. Pa’apa’a makes her final speech about following dreams and helping the world, before closing with Moment of Truth, sending the floor into uncontrollable and almost dangerously vibrations.

At the end of the night, whether you were tripping or vibrating, the gig was pretty spectacular. Looks like that guy smoking the funny cigarette was right after all.