I arrived at the Metro too late to see the Pink Fits, but I doubt they were better then The Bellrays. I don’t think anybody in Sydney could be better then The Bellrays, and that includes Radio Birdman. Lead by the massively charismatic Lisa Kekaula, they pumped up the audience with a heavy dose of Detroit: Motown soul melded with old punk attitude. She shouted and chanted. Lisa twirled and crooned like a Supreme, telling the audience to ‘take your hands out of your pockets and dance! This is ROCK AND SOUL!’ The crowd of Birdman fans obliged, yelling and shouting and pumping their fists in time to the music.
They played every song like it was an encore, with enough energy to light up a city and enough soul for all of Detroit. Every number felt classic, like an Aretha Franklin tune I almost barely remembered. Guitarist Bob Vennum looked like J. Mascis and leapt and duck-walked like Chuck Berry while mad Animal drummer Craig Waters pounded the skins and grinned like someone from AC/DC. This was high energy, high powered music that left everyone breathless. After their set I heard at least one person say “I’ve been waiting for music like this for 30 years”—and he was wearing a Radio Birdman shirt.
Radio Birdman couldn’t top the Bellrays, but they could do what they did best: a great set of straight-ahead punk. A red backdrop displayed the famous logo and the boys were in good form. They played mostly songs from their new album, Zeno Beach, but stirred in a bunch of the old hits: ‘Aloha Steve & Dano’, ‘New Race’, and ‘Anglo Girl Desire’. It was machine gun-precise punk, hard and fast. The mosh pit heated up and anything that got me slamming into large 50 year olds MUST be a good show.
This was straight ahead Stooges punk with machine gun power. Vocalist Rob Younger looked like a stringy haired zombie, lurching around the mic and shooting imaginary guns. Keyboardist Phil Hoyle looked like the perfect Dad in short hair and glasses, and the crowd was raucous and fun. Everybody got what they paid for: a night with old favourites Radio Birdman. The night really belonged to the Bellrays, though. Catch them at the Annandale on Tuesday night.
