Hardcore Superstar, Emergency Rule @ The Gov, Adelaide 14/11/2022
For most people, Monday evenings involve tottering home exhausted from the shock of the first day of the working week and refusing to cook dinner. However, for about one hundred of us Hair Metal loving party animals (deliberately ignoring the Dua Lipa fans across the road) Monday evening was a good night to put on our faithful leather jackets and dance the night away at the Gov with rowdy Swedish rockers Hardcore Superstar. Sure, the turnout was small but that didn’t stop these guys from bringing that enormous live energy they are well and truly known for and far too much sex appeal to handle on a school night.
Supporting HCSS was one of Adelaide’s national treasures Emergency Rule and while their style is fairly left field from the old school rock anthems of the main act, they opened with their particular brand of thumping bluesy rock setting the mood nicely for a high energy night. These guys have been on the local gig circuit consistently this year and it definitely shows, with their live sound tight as ever. Leaving no time for mucking about, they went straight into it with Corporation, the first single from their forthcoming album The King Of Ithaca. Bringing everyone out of the dark corners of the pub towards the stage, they progressively got louder and faster, smashing out heavy beats, dirty riffs and robust bass lines intensifying with each track and culminating with their latest single Garden. Finishing off with Ulysses, we were brought back down to the sticky wooden floors but only slightly, thoroughly rocked and rolled and ready for the noise ahead of us.
After a quick break for everyone to run for the bar and remember that we have to work in the morning, HCSS burst out on stage in a whirlwind of hair and skinny jeans opening with the standout single from their latest album Abrakadabra, Catch Me If You Can. Immediately demanding the audience’s full attention and enthusiasm, lead singer Jocke Berggren bounced from one side of the stage to the other singing directly to the people in front and encouraging everyone in the room to sing and clap with him. Speaking with Jocke a couple weeks ago, he had informed me that he is never one to stay still on stage and boy was that an understatement. His presence and stamina live is intoxicating and I am fairly certain I wasn’t the only (female) person there feeling… flustered by it. Flaunting his big rockstar energy, Jocke places himself firmly among the elite front men of his genre and probably running circles around most of them.
Delivering nothing but hits such as Wild Boys and Above the Law the band kept the audience singing while playfully interacting with each other. Audience members were pulled up for shots before everyone sloshed their pints about carolling the popular anthem Last Call for Alcohol, and after a brief rendition of the well-known act; ‘we’re finished so yell for more’, everyone got down with new album title track Abrakadabra and finished the night with the sentimental and topical song You Can’t Kill My Rock ‘n Roll.
What felt like an intimate cheeky weeknight gathering with our favourite Swedish party metal muso mates was wrapped up by 10.30 after one hell of a good boogie. Just in time to get home for enough sleep to aptly cope with the Tuesday morning that loomed ahead and get out before the onslaught of that annoying Dua Lipa crowd. Monday night definitely done right.
Live Review By Bec Scheucher