On one of the hottest Saturday nights ever recorded in Adelaide, Mach
Pelican and Yokohama 3-piece, The Havenot’s, came to play at the
Crown and Anchor and cranked up the heat so much that the mosh pit became a lava
pit.



The Havenot’s – with Matt Aoki (guitar/vocal), Shimmy (bass/vocal)
and Not’s Kohta (drums) started as virtual unknowns and finished as rock
and roll heroes as their relentless onslaught quickly won over the crowd with
stand out songs being The Boys Back to the Street, Sick Boy,
Rock and Roll Weekend and the well received Ramones cover The KKK
Took My Baby Away. The crowd by this stage had totally warmed to the trio
and demanded – and got – an unplanned encore of I Fought the Law.



By the time Mach Pelican hit the stage the crowd had grown noticeably larger,
drunker, sweatier, hotter and more vocal… The Pelican’s opened up with their
latest single, She’s a Mod then let rip with one of the best brackets of
unrelenting, honest rock and roll I have ever been witness to. They didn’t just
come to play and plug their new CD, they came to rock hard and get the crowd in
on the act with plenty to sing along to and scream your guts out for in
appreciation. They were as sharp and tight as any band I’ve seen, and obviously
enjoying themselves (maybe they’re Melbourne Victory fans?) but the joy they
were producing on the stage was reflected in the crowd who sang, cheered,
chanted and danced throughout the whole set.



Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the drink, but the crowd call for an encore
was disjointed and lacked power, but K-Rock, Atsu and Toshi
could see we were honest in our endeavors and came back with Matt from the
Havenot’s on guitar, which allowed Kei to get into some first class mic
posturing and crowd jumping while ending with a thumping rendition of the
Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop. A hot night and a top night of rock and roll –
congratulations to both The Havenot’s and Mach Pelican for giving themselves
totally to the cause – and to the crowd – who totally embraced the first class
rock and roll on offer.