Alexisonfire @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 27/2/2023
The four stand in a circle, the room an incandescent blue, conjuring sounds and emotions as the hair stands up on your neck, fixated on the leaders on the pulpit. This is an Alexisonfire show.
It’s been quite some time since Dallas Green and the team have graced these parts and Adelaide is thirsty for them.
Opening with Drunks, Lovers, Sinners And Saints, an audio blast of vibrant energetic hardcore punk, has everyone literally on board with the bands calls to arms.
The band’s genius in having multi vocalists shines in Boiled Frogs as the metal harmonies spear through the sound. The audience ‘woah’ their way through the song as singer George Pettit catches a can thrown on stage, finishes the drink, crushes it and throws it back all in one glorious headbanging movement. Crushing indeed.
The band drops tracks all through their career and newbie Sans Soleil slows the pace down a little as bassist Chris Steele gyrates his way around the stage like a snake being charmed out of a basket.
Sweet Dreams Of Otherness has a groove that can only be described as sexual and dynamics that are breathless and has the audience themselves ramp up their vocals and then clap along to Rough Hands.
By the time the room is light up in blue for Blue Spade, a moody ominous dangerous song, you know you’re watching a band enjoy themselves, as they circle during the bands outro like a gang of brothers rocking out to an adoring public.
The air raid siren wail of Dallas Green’s guitar brings in Crisis and the bands four distinct personalities all light up the stage, Dallas’s ‘been round the block’ style contrasts with the Steele’s ‘the beat controls my body’, Pettit’s manic in your face performance and Wade McNeil’s ‘I’m the man’. You don’t know what to look at first as fans of all ages, teenage surfers to silver haired foxes, crowd surf over the barrier.
The Northern softly softy approach sounds amazing before they go into an epic long jam of grooves and solos.
Just when you thought the energy couldn’t be squeeze anymore out of the band and crowd, Young Cardinals drops and boom! Accidents follows after a short break with the band themselves stopping to allow the audience to take over in a touching moment of unity.
This continues as the set finishes with This Could Be Anywhere In The World and Happiness By The Kilowatt in red and blue lights with the crowd ‘woahing’ and clapping their way throughout the song with the lyrics ‘is this what we hoped for?’ Judging by the crowd reaction to the show, it was much more.
Live Review By Iain McCallum