Returning for the next band, I found the room surprisingly empty by comparison to the previous band's crowd. A covers audience exits at Rozelle? Who knew! The Confusion performed one of the quickest change-overs I have seen since Homebake, transferring the acoustic stage to a Marshall-driven three-piece outfit set ready to totally rock da joint! Theirs is the all-American look with NYC Baseball shirts, backward baseball caps and a drop-dead gorgeous blonde who sings like a mix between Pat Benatar and Gwen Stefani.
This is suburbs- or
regional-country rock but just poppy enough to have featured on Triple M fifteen years ago (or
today, to be honest). Dave's guitars could do with a little more
dirt and a few more effects, and the overall presentation could improve with
some sessions in a practise studio rather than the garage. The songwriting will
benefit from listening to more than the aforementioned radio station in order
to gain a little more depth and Helen could get a little more
grungier in her outlook to match that cool tat!
Overall, the stage show is
as though the band has been together for many years (three of them brothers and
the obvious Helen/Darren relationship thing makes
that a certainty) and they completely enjoy what they do and who they're with.
The future is big for The Confusion in the West and out in the
country venues, despite the claim that they never do covers because they
"always fuck them up"… «««
It turns out that much of
the crowd that formed during The Confusion's set was there for Mr
Purdie and those lunar
seafarers. If that is the case, they would have been prepared
chronologically for what was in store but not sonically. Ian's
lead-break in the opening song, Prue's overall vocal strength,
projection and power and the dauntless rhythm section of Brian Subkey
on bass and Peter Fitzgerald behind the kit, set the musical tone
for the evening.
The interplanetary thing
wore very thin after the second reference although I know it does fit in with
the debut album title. After a while I found myself watching a cabaret act with
the quasi-humourous banter between songs, and three young musicians supporting
a guitarist that appears to be making a late comeback. The music, however, was
as expected from the debut album with standouts that included The Rain, Evolve!!,
Reach Higher (the Sydney Olympic theme-song hopeful), Lunarsea, Meet
Minced Meat and Narcissus. The sound was just-OK but the lighting
was piss-poor in the very lest, with the focus right out of whack and the
fade-outs not coming back up when anyone started to talk again.
My rating varied from
'when can I leave' to 'hey I like this one' to 'shut the fuck up with the alien
thing already!' From the excellent debut album to the OK follow-up, this
performance is a further step backwards for the Lunarsea Boatmen. ««