One could argue endlessly which is better: a no thrills, no gimmicks, straight to the point live rock show or a carefully choreographed, visual and costume-based performance? I’m not here to provide an answer to that, but after witnessing The Datsuns, it’s very hard to go past the experience of a band with little more than their instruments and great rock tunes displaying 100% passion and integrity. Melbourne’s Hifi Bar played host to the UK-via-New Zealand band’s long-awaited headline show in Melbourne. After a two year absence, The Datsuns were here to promote their third album, Smoke and Mirrors, and it was a great sight to see a sold out venue welcome them back.
Main support act The Casanovas have always loomed as the most appropriate support band for The Datsuns. They share the same big-riffed, good time rock n roll, have toured Europe together on many occasions and are best mates off stage. The Casanovas played a ‘best of’ set – an opportune time to showcase their material to perhaps one of the largest crowds to whom they’ve played. After seeing them at countless small and medium sized venues, I was impressed at how their big sound permeated this larger venue. The Casanovas easily made the Hi Fi Bar theirs during their time on.
With bands keeping to their allocated times with impeccable precision (for once!), it didn’t take long for The Datsuns to emerge. The four-piece walked casually onto the stage and with only a large grin from guitarist Phil, headed straight into new material. It was a subdued start to the show, but if The Datsuns were concerned with the audience’s reserved reaction they only needed to launch into familiar territory. Their better known ‘hits’, like MF From Hell, Harmonic Generator, Fink For The Man and Sitting Pretty instigated a roaring applause, moshing, air guitar- playing and crowd surfing.
The Datsuns show is minimally animated; there’s little chatter from the band except to introduce some songs and at times, vocalist Dolf would extend his arms out, in true rock star style, to elicit a show of enthusiasm and cheers from the audience. But the band more than makes up for this with energy and a tight, fast set and with Dolf’s booming voice that wavers from low and deep to shouts and screams. How the guy can endure 1 ¼ hours of this, without losing his voice, is amazing.
They closed their set with Fink For The Man, on which guitarists Phil and Christian exaggerated a psychedelic guitar solo to form a kaleidoscope of swirly effects. After briefly exiting the stage they were hastily cheered back on for an encore. Dolf introduced their only cover for the night – The Ramones’ The KKK Took My Baby Away – as “a song some of you might not know.” Well, regardless of whether or not people knew it, they made a damn fine effort of covering the bitterly sweet track. Their generous, four-song encore ended with the epic Freeze Sucker, which concluded with Phil raising his guitar emphatically over his head, acknowledging the overwhelming applause from the audience and the successful return to our shores.
It was a pleasure to have an exceptional rock band playing to us on this night. What The Datsuns hold over the plethora of rock bands around is an honest and down to earth approach, a belief in their music and most importantly, good songs. And I’ll take that any day over pre-fabricated stage show dribble.
