For the third time in less than a year, I was off to see Melbourne band Dallas Crane in order to review their performance for FasterLouder. The previous two shows certainly impressed me but they were during times when I was going through a dry patch as far as seeing really impressive gigs.
The events leading up to a gig are a big factor that I find can really influence your perception of how good a band really is on the night. In the case of this gig, it came the night after the Guns N Roses show at the Entertainment Centre across the road. As a tragic rock guy who wishes that he could forever live in the late eighties, early nineties LA rock scene, this was one of the shows of the year for me (especially with Sebastian Bach from Skid Row as support act). After seeing this rock spectacle on the Wednesday, then to follow it up while still hung over, just across the road at a tiny, by comparison pub venue, was not the best precursor for a good review for a small, but still blossoming Victorian band.
Nevertheless, I had enjoyed Dallas Crane every time that I had seen them before so was hopeful that I would enjoy myself once again. Inside the venue was a smaller crowd than I had been expecting but the dreary winter weather outside was probably a big factor in the lack of huge numbers in attendance. I arrived to catch the support set from 67 Special who did a respectable job of warming up the crowd. There was quite a cool, lounge room jam atmosphere in the place at this stage. By the time Dallas Crane casually waltzed up onto the stage, there was definitely a buzz in the air which really kicked in when the opening riff of Tonight (there’s a party going down) blasted through the PA. Even though this was an intimate gig on a cold night, the band played as though they were playing a sold out Entertainment Centre. It didn’t take long at all for the crowd to be pumped and singing along with every song.
This performance confirmed my suspicions. If Dallas Crane can blow me away and give me a great night out the very next night after seeing one of my favourite international bands (whilst being hung-over) they indeed are worthy in my eyes of being regarded as one of the country’s best rock bands you can go and see perform live. After the powerful set of songs from the current Factory Girls album and a handful of classics from their earlier releases, I was feeling re-energized and really happy that in this country we can still go out to a pub venue and catch a great Australian live band without the need to pay a week’s pay for the privilege.
