Kisschasy @ The Gaelic Club,Surry Hills (07/07/2006)

Mon 10th Jul, 2006 in Gig Reviews

On this Friday night, one of Sydney’s most intimate live venues, The Gaelic Theatre, played host to three bands, and an array of keen gig-goers ready to embrace the weekend, and to avoid the harsh weather outside. With warmth on the mind, the audience was welcomed by Trial Kennedy, who captivated some audience members, while most others seemed more concerned with finding some inner-warmth at the bar. Trial Kennedy did earn some respect from the crowd when singer Tim Morrison pulled off a great semi-cover of ‘Stairway to Heaven’, repeating the lyrics ‘and she’s buying…’ for a couple of minutes as a lead in to one of their songs. Not many upcoming bands would attempt to cross such sacred ground, and expect not to be snubbed for doing so, but Morrison’s ability to hold the notes with great precision proved to be impressive; serving to slightly improve the audience’s otherwise apathetic participation.

The crowd had closed in and was a little cozier by the time the second act, Limbeck, took the stage. Hailing from California, these 20-something guys pumped out a range of folkie, alt-rock numbers, resembling a younger, more O.C.-friendly, version of Powderfinger. Singing about California and parking lots, these charismatic chaps were well received by the crowd through their blend of friendly voice and guitar, and also when they proclaimed their love for Bega (yes, the cheese), Coopers beer and poked fun at Kisschasy for being “emo”. It was clear that these boys, having been on the road with Kisschasy for a while now, were having a great time on and off stage – a feeling which transcended well, and seemed to lift the overall mood of the audience.

Kisschasy opened with their recent hit ‘Do-Do’s and Whoa-Oh’s’ to the predicted screaming response of the upfront, fresh-faced fan base. The track’s opening lines ‘this is a toast to all the people listening’ were chorused by these front runners with a pure, overt enthusiasm that lingered around the front area, but failed to persuade the back-enders - of which there were quite a few more than may usually be expected - that were content smoking cigarettes outside all night, or perhaps sitting along the outskirts of the club, preferring the view of denim to that on stage.

Unfortunately for these anti-participants, Kisschasy put on a blistering set, which got the rest of the joint rocking out, and having a great time. They covered a wide range of their material; including songs from their original EP’s Darkside and Cara Sposa, as well as of course United Paper People, their 2005 debut album. They fused tracks with some unpredictable blues jamming, and then by hounding back in to some good old hard-rock with tracks like ‘United Paper People’. Singer/Guitarist, Darren Courdeux did well on a couple of intimate acoustic numbers, such as ‘The Shake’, which again struck chords with the die-hard fans, but may have been a little stretched for the rest of the audience.

Finishing with ‘This Bed’, the Melbournians took little more than a three-minute encore break, and after returning played the early favorite ‘Anger is the brand new thing’, and then invited their good friends from Trial Kennedy and Limbeck up on stage to close the set with a cover of Tom Petty’s ‘You wreck me’. Somehow, with four guitarists, two bassists, two drummers and everyone else on a mic or tambourine or whatever else was lying around, they pulled the song off and closed the show with a blast.