2006 Triple J Unearthed winners, Young and Restless have been making waves since they played Homebake last year. Making a reputation for hyper energetic live shows through continuous touring and coveted support acts with the likes of Brazilian electro rockers Cansei De Ser Sexy and San Francisco dance punk trio Erase Errata and a string of singles mostly released via their MySpace. Tonight’s show at Rocket Bar affirmed that the live rep of the band was no exception to the hype and was probably one of the wildest nights that the venue has ever seen.
Local newcomers All Made of Rubies who have also supported Erase Errata kicked things off with their vaguely dancey lo-fi punk vibe complete with cowbell. With Matt Burgess smashing it up on the drums and Rani Cooke and Staci Wilson both swapping between vocals, bass and guitar, they played a rip roaring set.
Next up were New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands. My first impression of them from browsing their MySpace was that they were the usual could-be models who play derivative remotely post punk influenced pop songs that the NME love to rave about. However I was in for a big surprise, they kicked off with their lead singer embarking on a wild rampage through the crowd from the lead singer, who then proceeded to climb and crash into everything on stage. The band took on a much more frantic pace live than you would expect from their recorded about.
Finally Young and Restless arrived onto the tiny stage and the five piece could not have been more excited about the start of their nationwide tour. They played all of their clear crowd pleasers like Dirty Kicks , Satan and Kapow! along with a number of new songs from their upcoming debut album to be released in July. It’s impossible to not get into their invigorating post hardcore, dance punk especially with singer Karina Utomo’s boundless energy and enthusiasm. Their music itself sounds like a mixture between At the Drive In and early Yeah Yeah Yeahs. As such Karen O comparisons are unavoidable. She even tried to crowd surf at Rocket – a difficult feat to say the least. The set culminated with a duet of Dirty Kicks with a member of the audience. It was an amazing show and I hope they head back to Adelaide again soon.
