Band: Calling All Cars, Dead Letter Circus, The Butterfly Effect
Venue: Forum Theatre
Date: 18th July 2009
Reviewed By: Espylyn
Calling All Cars are first on tonight and the crowd is already cramming into the beautiful room at the Forum Theatre. A lovely stringed start then the three piece open with Disconnect, a loud song with tempting beats and open mouthed poses from the band. Shake Girl follows with awesome drum licks whilst the two guitarists prance around on stage. The singer runs to the speakers for some on top of speaker action before he jumps back on stage to get into the next tune, Runaway- another fast song. Soldier On has a cruisy beat and the new song (off the soon to be released album) Cold Cold Fire displays energy from the band but this energy is in every song tonight. This is their first home town performance for a while and judging by the crowd’s reaction, it won’t be their last.
Dead Letter Circus have the potential to be a massive band and Clint from The Butterfly Effect said later during their show that he feels this band will be the next big thing and he hopes to be riding their coat tails for some time yet. The theatre is practically full now to see this band support the main act tonight and I’d say this gig is sold out due to the amazing line up of all three bands. Kim Benzie (vocals) has high vocals (reminiscent of Ian from Karnivool) and there is plenty of flashing lights to help the four piece spill forth their fast paced groovy songs. The two guitarists give the show a thicker sound whilst the drummer plays in sync with his quick and racy beats. The band really gel together live and Kim has fantastic live vocals. Song in the Wall is played and this is from their new album due out soon, the song is completed with a haunting guitar sound. The crowd belt out the tunes with the band with enthusiasm, spirit and warmth.
A lengthy wait and finally, lights down and the tune from Dire Straits - Money for Nothing, is blasted around us, we only the start of the song before the band come out and into Window and the Watcher which was like unleashing a beast on stage, Clint Boge on vocals sporting a military style jacket and gracing the stage with his ever felt presence. The song is off their latest offering Final Conversation of Kings. A red screen behind the band has flashing lights and we all know it’s going to be a top gig tonight. The Butterfly Effect hail from Brisbane and have been around since 1999 and something tells me they’ll be around for a few more years yet. The crowd are going insane, rock hands in the air and just about everyone is singing the songs around me. Rain is next displaying energy from all band members - Ben Hall on drums, Glenn Esmond on bass and Kurt Goedhart on guitar and tonight they are fully pumped. Around us moulded into the theatre, the naked young male statues which are all around this theatre, watch on, and I can’t help but wonder what they’ve seen over the years!
The pure energy of The Butterfly Effect cruises into Slow Descent (from their last album Imago) whilst the images on the screen make me feel like I’m on the train ride and I have to say that Clint’s vocals are the best I’ve ever heard live. The long notes are held and this makes for one strong performance and his signature moves and actions are displayed with wonderment from the audience. The next treats are Room Without a View followed by In A Memory with its bouncy bass and reckless drum beats. An acoustic version of Beautiful Mine (thank you for singing this x 1000) is such a lovely song and the crowd go mad, a song that is rarely played live (from their first full length album, Begins Here), it is brilliant to hear the song live. Reach has a cruisy edge and long vocal strands, and allows the audience to sing out loud -word for word whilst Perception Twin rocks the stage and Gone is another crowd tickler which Clint dedicates to the ladies in the audience. The next song is a cover from the 1980’s, Reckless, by Aussie Crawl. Some of the crowd find this the time to head for a beer or a toilet stop but Clint and co performs a reasonable job of the song and I still can’t understand the lyrical content!
Throughout the entire show the screen displays many images, some from album pictures from over the years and some are random images. For the next song Worlds on Fire we’re asked to watch the screen and then Clint tells us to remember we can do anything. Picture of wars enter our minds and allows us all to think of the catastrophes of war gone by. A beautiful guitar instrumental and then encore ensues.
Aisles of White takes us all on a journey whether it be to dance like crazy or sing no matter how good or bad we sound, and the light show goes mad around the stage. Sum of 1 ends the night and Clint tells us it’s the best show of the tour and it’s not something he says often. Melbourne is one top crowd and all the Melbournite’s give knowingly looks of agreement to Clint. As we leave the gig a cold blast tells me the front doors are open and it’s into the cold Melbourne winter night to follow, but a fantastic gig and happy chatting voices of the punters, tells me The Butterfly Effect put on one hell of a show.
features on www.thedwarf.com.au
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