You Me At Six, We The Kings,The Mission In Motion @ TheTivoli, Brisbane, (27/08/2011)

Tue 30th Aug, 2011 in Gig Reviews

When day turned into night on Saturday 27th August the line outside The Tivoli was already stretching well down the street. The hardcore fans had been there for over twelve hours and with the constant rain anyone who had been there for more than half an hour or so was feeling more than a little bit waterlogged. The rain did nothing to curb the enthusiasm of the all ages crowd though, with groups having impromptu sing-alongs and sharing ponchos, umbrellas and food throughout the day.

When 6pm rolled around and there was still no sign of doors opening the line grew restless, with people struggling to stay as dry as possible. When security finally swung those doors open there was a rush as people power-walked toward the barrier to score the best views and the chance to touch their idols.

After a wait that felt like forever, Sydney rockers The Mission In Motion swept onstage, pumping out song after song to a very receptive audience. The played a selection of songs from their album Somewhere Safe as well as some older numbers including We Take This To The Night and The News. They earned themselves a few new fans with their explosive set, playing with an intensity that made every song feel like it could be an encore yet retaining a sense of modesty that was very endearing. They finished their performance with the uplifting New Skin and a promise to hang out with anyone and everyone at the merch table.

Another hour or so of thumb-twiddling and BAM! For anyone who may have been unsure, 15-year-old girls can make a hell of a lot of noise when they want to. And when We The Kings ran out, they sure wanted to. It was very obvious that vocalist Travis Clark knew his target audience with his naughty references to orgies and marrying Australians getting the girls screeching. Their watered down, radio-friendly pop rock was well executed yet lacked the energy of the dudes who graced the stage before them. There was all the elements of a very calculated performance, with the obligatory acoustic love songs getting the female’s pulses racing and of course wrapping up with the only song that’s really carried their career, Check Yes Juliet. Of course, if you caught them at Soundwave 2011, all you got was an extreme sense of déjà vu.

It was another excruciating wait before the big hitters of the evening came out to show us where talent gets you these days. You Me At Six, over from the UK once again, managed to turn up the heat even more and danced the rainy weather right out of everyone’s minds. The man on the mic Josh Franceschi was oozing charisma, with high impact The Consequence setting the feeling for the night, transitioning smoothly into the older Kiss And Tell. They were able to play more mellow songs like Hard To Swallow and still have the crowd feel like losing it – with Franceschi mentioning how he steered away from the obvious ‘swallow’ jokes. They left the Tivoli security pulling their hair out when Franceschi ripped off the ‘No Crowd Surfing’ signs and told the audience to go nuts. When they pulled out the heartfelt Stay With Me the band may as well not have been there, the audience taking over the song and claiming it as their own. As always, the band was very humble, crediting the audience for their success and showing their almost incredulous pleasure when their own lyrics were sung back to them by so many people.

There was a bit of an ‘awkward moment’ moment when they wrapped up with Underdog and left the stage to chants of “One more song!” – but never came back for an encore, though we’re throwing the blame on the curfew for that one. Still, it was a massive night of pop-punk-alicious music, crushed ribs and good times.