Louis XIV, Red Riders,Flamingo Crash @ The Zoo,Brisbane (15/06/06)

Fri 16th Jun, 2006 in Gig Reviews

Flamingo Crash, Red Riders, Louis XIV

An incredibly exciting lineup for a very quiet Fortitude Valley night.
The Zoo was near empty besides cold air when Flamingo Crash began their set at an unfairly early time of 8:20pm. Despite the invisible crowd, they effortlessly stole the stage and made it their own, exuding incredible energy. Dressed to the nines, they’ve created a ‘new new-wave’ fashion style which gave them a intense visual impression as a band, while of them sport a uniform rainbow-block insignia. The band had incredible cohesion, along with a very cutting-edge sound. Their showmanship was impressively full-on, with a stage dynamic very reminiscent of The Mars Volta, or even a psychotic B-52s.  It seems Flamingo Crash are creating their own genre of sound, mixing new synth rock styles (eg The Fever) with the guitar work of late 70’s punk like Wire.  Their innovative songwriting was evident as they moved from well-known songs such as radio hit ‘Yes Yes Yes’, to their recent releases, such as set closer ‘Smart Bomb’ (“If there really was a smart bomb it would tell us to stop fucking killing each other”).  As they left, I concluded they’d just become my favourite Brisbane band.

Sydney’s The Red Riders, sporting the classic Aussie-rock dress code of t-shirt and jeans, began next on the bill, opening with tracks ‘C’Mon’ and ‘Call on Me’ to the same tiny audience. Far less of an aggresive stage act, an obvious influence from The Cure shone through in both stage attitude and sound. While the tiny crowd started to swell, they remained tight and tested out some new tracks from their debut LP to be released in September. These worked well to keep the crowd excited, their style easily appreciated by any fan of recent Brit-pop (the tunes sounding like the rockier side of Snow Patrol). Mixing in a couple of old songs from their EP familiar to Triple J listeners, the band concluded their 8-song set with “Sleep”

With barely a break, Louis XIV entered stage left like a injection of rock ‘n roll cut with dirt. Striding onto the stage armed with waitcoasts, collars and leather, conjuring an image of a bikie gang from 1870. The band had an air of passive aggression, and while maybe not French royals in blood, they certainly had power over every audience member they made eyes at. From the moment the guitars were struck, there was an incredible sense of awe. These guys are as Rock as humanly possible. The riffs of their tunes, whether to boogie-beat or hard rock, carry the legacy of greats from AC/DC to ZZ Top. The sex and arrogance laden in lyrics such as the“We don’t have to go to the pool, If you want me to make you wet” of ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ were belted out deftly as they swigged red wine between chords and snatched cigarettes from crowd members. They left minimum time for useless banter between songs, the singer’s Bon Scott charisma and the bands raw, dirty sound doing all the talking. Before they left the stage, they gave a brief thanks for being their first Australian show, and were drowned out by screaming girls. The crowd impressed beyond measure, Louis XIV set a standard for rock and roll.