The Plot In You, Erra, Deadlights @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 22/9/2022
The Plot In You arrive in town with the most splendid of bills in tow. Their most recent album, the emotionally brutally tender Swan Song, is a modern masterpiece in complex human emotions and the band arrive on stage tonight to the strains of John Farnham’s You’re The Voice primed to give you this unique human experience in live form.
The Plot In You are not the only masterful performance of the night. Brisbane’s Deadlights combine the guttural and melodic vocals with a vibrant set. Sudden Life/Sudden Death has a heavy groove while King Of Nowhere bounces like a fat kid on an inflatable castle. Vocalist Dylan Davidson gives off Keith Buckley vibes in his excellent dictation and delivery of his messages over an energetic and melodic blast beat of set. They are back out in November with Mirrors and I would recommend you get a ticket.
Erra meanwhile mean business and they come out of the blocks with power, rapid drumming and melodic vocals. They are a battering ram of sound with Scorpion Hymn has a great vocal performance from JT Cavey over a band so in the zone that it feels like being hit repeatedly by The Terminator.
During Breach and Eye Of God, when Cavey requests – and duly gets – a circle pit formed, it becomes apparent these guys are having a lot of fun. A real live in the moment experience. They rock onstage, have grooves, technically excellent and the switches in vocals invite the crowd to sing back. An absolute delight to watch.
Opening with The Plot In You vocalist Landon Tewers alone on stage, he begins to croon Face Me and the crowd instantly join in. Eventually the band ignite and press the red button that lets the room explode.
Fall Again delivers a filthy riff and a drum sound that sounds like a AK47 going off and everyone in the room is now aboard the musical The Plot In You express. Enemy has the cameras out for the dynamic shift in the song and by the time Paradigm is in crashing down, crowd surfers are rolling across the barrier like punters through the turnstile on Grand Final day.
It’s a crazy, wild and entertaining set. Time Changes Everything has the flashlights out in unison, while Both To Blame and Too Heavy show the bands capability at diversity and the audience’s appreciation is tangible.
Lewers states that the crowd ‘are too fucking crazy and I love it’ before unloading into the incendiary Disposable Fix. A short fake encore later and the roof lifts for the final number ‘Feel Nothing’ with everyone singing back and forth.
With that, the show, the experience, is over. A hit and sweaty room have just witnessed a event that will burn long in the minds, and for some the muscles, for the long time. This wasn’t just a show, it was catharsis.
Live Review By Iain McCallum