On a cool and breezy night in the ‘berra, one could be forgiven for wanting to stay home and watch the usual Sunday line-up of crime shows and repeat movies.  That is, they could only be forgiven if they didn’t notice the banner hanging above the Royal Theatre proclaiming The All States Of Emergency Tour, with The Living End, End of Fashion and Red Riders putting on an all-ages concert.  Together.  On the same night.  In the same place.  It was as if there was some sort of magical alignment of Jupiter’s moons which had created a sensational gig… and everyone was invited.  To Civic, then!

As the Royal Theatre slowly began to fill up, my eyes adjusted to the overload of blue light and my ears began to tune out the echoing noise from the crowd – all that was left was the cluttered stage and the feeling of a good deal of weight being pressed against my right side by a punter a little too ambitious in their attempt to squeeze closer to a more central vantage point.  No matter, all thoughts of Newton’s third law of motion were soon replaced by the rocking sound of Red Riders.

This quality Sydney band have pulled some great support gigs in their time, and touring with The Living End and End of Fashion seems like a great preparation for, one day soon, touring as a headliner.  Red Riders’ support set was strong, dress sense excluded, and their Triple J hit, ‘Slide In Next To Me’, seems a good indication of great things to come.

Having already gained national recognition as one of the best sounding outfits going, End of Fashion seem to be putting on solid live performances everywhere they go, proving that their immensely catchy sound translates into a great live experience.  With hits such as ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’ and ‘She’s Love’ to get the crowd singing along, the band also mixed in some new material to keep the “heard it” sighs to a minimum.  Hopefully the band isn’t too far away from album #2, considering the overwhelming positive reception of their first stream of hits and the generally short attention spans of the modern album buyer.

An interlude between acts saw an opportunity for the roadies to try their hand at some comic relief, giving the crowd a lift before the headliners were due and giving the camera phones in the crowd a thorough workout.  Heh – Spam.

One must admit, based on the screams, cheers and whistles which exploded from the crowd as a roadie brought out Scott Owen’s double bass, that The Living End have some genuinely insane hardcore fans.  By the time the actual musicians made it into view, the crowd had continued to ramp up the volume to the extreme – the rockabilly kings of Australia took the stage and blasted forth with incredible energy and intensity, probably glad to be at the final show of a seven week tour but nonetheless impressively tight.

Chris Cheney was brilliant throughout the evening, hitting his notes and pulling off his guitar trickery, most notably the freshly-drained Corona bottle as a slide, while bassist Owen showed why the upright will never die, making regular old bass playing seem dull and ordinary by comparison.  Not to be forgotten, Andy Strachan was great on the drums and kept the crowd tapping, clapping or jumping along to each of the band’s anthems.  Featured were hits like ‘Roll On’ and ‘West End Riot’ as well as the evergreen anthem ‘Prisoner Of Society’, tossed in with the more recent singles ‘What’s On Your Radio’ and ‘Wake Up’ – hits with the younger members of the crowd.  A bit of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was lapped up by the audience who sang along with the kind of gusto usually reserved for when the Wallabies play.

At the end of the evening, with my right side completely numb, I was content.  The bands were solid the whole way through, the audience was enthusiastic, albeit a bit mixed up given the nature of an all-ages gig, and, really, it’s no great wonder why all three bands command ever-growing fan bases.  The All States of Emergency tour was a brilliant chance for Australian music to shine, and it was the kind of night that will keep local music lovers sleeping soundly for a long time to come.