It’s Saturday, it’s the final performance night at the Beck’s Verandah for 2007 and the crowd on hand has little idea of the performance they were about to witness. The Bellrays step onstage to produce one of the most blistering performances that Perth have ever witnessed; A performance of power, precious, ferocity and soulful magic that blows everything and everyone away.

Fronted by the dynamic Lisa Kekaula, whose soulful and powerful vocal range bellows across the open-air venue, the quartet powered into the opening tracks of their set with riffs to tear your clothes off and beats that could fix your grandma’s dodgy hip. The beauty of this band is the fact that behind Kekaula is a band that resembles the power and genius of The Stooges or MC5 and produces a barrage of sound that blows the crowd away. But these two elements lead one to ponder what genre the Bellrays actually are. Who cares? They are a cross between punk, rock, soul and funk and do it so well that the all four genres become one. As Kekuala asks, “when did soul and rock become separated anyway?”

With little time wasted between songs, they produce a set of phenomenal power. They create a wall of sound that is only punctuated by a voice that lifts the music even higher. Kekuala quite literally sings her lungs out, leaving them in a pile on the stage. Playing a collection of tracks from Have a Little Faith, the band’s latest album, their genre-defying sound draws the sellout crowd closer and closer to the stage and deeper and deeper into their musical masterclass. The funk-driven Tell a Lie and the MC5-like Detroit Breakdown symbolise the four-piece’s ability to move between genres with little to no effort while the earth-shattering Kill the Messenger allows Kekuala’s voice to shine further. Tony Fate’s guitar pushes the sound even more, with Kekuala playing to the crowd like a true entertainer.

As if transported to a time when only music mattered, the audience feeds the band as they continue their onslaught on the ears. Often you hear reviews note on how tight a band is. Well I would quite happily climb Mount Everest tied to the knot that is The Bellrays, such was their ‘tightness’. As they finish their set the interplay between the four members is as impressive as ever, as each Bellray has their chance to show the crowd ‘what they have’. Their musicianship is something to behold but more so to marvel at. Returning for a quickfire rendition of Revolution Getdown, The Bellrays leave the crowd stunned, amazed, dazzled, confused but more importantly thoroughly entertained.

We now await the less then impressive copycats. As The Bellrays depart the only band in Perth that could possibly come close to matching them take their place. Bobby Blackbird and the Bluejays or, as they now wish to be known, The Bluejays, set about continuing the party as they play their collection of bluesy funk numbers to a slowly responsive crowd. Now playing as a simple three-piece, there sound is spectacularly full. Driven by the thundering beats of Fred Cherry and the soulful bass of Jesse Fulton they make you move from a place deep in your soul. Bobby Blackbird’s guitar progress the melody deep in the essence of funk with his voice driving the rhythm. I Don’t Need Nobody, What A Shame and What You Wanna Do display their level of musicianship and songwriting abilities; in a scene that is dominated by the indie kids and new fads, The Bluejays rise above all others and produce music that you would never expect to hear from a Perth band. A night of pure musical magic, a night befitting the final performance here for 2007 to show us all the true genius of music a good reason to say “Goddamn that was good”.