Trophy Eyes @ The Gov, Adelaide 23/6/2023
It’s record release day for Trophy Eyes as they stand atop of The Gov stage and survey the carnage of failing limbs, sore throats and sweaty bodies in front of them.
Adelaide has the special spot of being where the band are performing while Suicide And Sunshine, the band first new album in five years, drops to the masses with the band and audience alike in a feverish mood.
Opening with a track from the new album is a risky move however Blue Eyed Boy sets a match underneath the bomb that is the crowd and they erupt like Vesuvius.
Despite an impromptu break for technical issues, the crowd continue singing the words to the song while the band reset and come back in an impressive indicator of this audiences participation in the night.
It’s that participation in particular which sparkles throughout as virtually every song has a stage diver or a random crowd goer taking over vocals while Trophy Eyes drop bombtracks one after another.
By the end of second track Figure Eight, many in the crowd have worked up a sweat and are crowd surfing as the security start to be worked to maintain everyone’s enjoyment in a safe setting.
Vocalist John Floreani stands as a giant over the crowd as screams of ‘get the fuck up’ ring out around the room as the band lay waste to 27 Club.
The setlist – which flys buy in a blur – has five new tracks including Kill, the early favourite Life In Slow Motion, People Like You and What Hurts The Most. Every single one of the tracks is greeted like an old friend.
The old friends in the set list such as Suicide Pact and the anthemic Home Is are performed with emotion from the band that is only matched by the passion of the crowd.
As the final reverberation of Bandaid closes the evenings proceedings on an towering performance from Trophy Eyes on their release day, you can’t help think that the band are about to level up to the point we may not be this intimate again with them. For those at The Gov, that would make tonight all that much sweeter.
Live Review By Iain McCallum