Thursday night at The Gov was fantastic seeing Tassie legends Luca Brasi return to celebrate the release of their relatively new album The World Don’t Owe You Anything. Given the personal journey for the band over the last six months with family illness we’re definitely grateful to have been able to see them again. Whilst there might be an element of truth in the album title, Luca Brasi did reign triumphant making this gig all the more sweeter. The fans knew it and so did the band.
Spanish Love Songs were awesome addition as main support for this tour. Having missed us out when they toured Australia last time it was a surprise to have seen them back so soon. Nevertheless, they made their forty minutes count. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Dylan Slocum, guitarist Kyle McAulay, drummer Ruben Duarte, bassist Trevor Dietrich, and keyboardist Meredith Van Woert. Slocum and Van Woert are married. These LA rockers tackle some very deep lyrical content but present it in such a compelling way. Opening songs Lifers and Losers is a testament to the compelling nature of their music and there is something to take away with Self-Destruction (As a Sensible Career Choice).
Singer and guitarist Dylan Slocum opened with “To all the people that yelled at us on the internet for not coming last time, we are here in your fucking beautiful city”. There were a few ironic cheers to which Slocum responded saying “yeah, start yelling for us to come back when we haven’t finished yet.” Pendulum was an absolute gem of a song and Slocum took a second to reflect again saying that they could not believe they are in Australia again. Believe it or not this tour with Luca Brasi had been five or six years in the making. Kick, Loser 2 and Marvel are great songs dealing with personal insecurities with Slocum suggesting that all their songs are “serious” by nature. Haunted and Clean Up Crew rounded out a terrific set.
It has been a while since the last time I saw Luca Brasi (supporting Alexisonfire I think) and they played a turbo charged eighty minutes or so in front of a fiercely loyal crowd who were there to see “their” band. Ripping through The Entry Ramp and The World Don’t Owe You Anything it was clear that they were on as that momentum carried through Habits and Let It Slip. It might have been a school but as the band said “fuck work, fuck responsibilities”. This tour was just as much about the back catalogue pulling out Dying To Feel Alive, Say It Back and early gem Benthos. With the recent challenges the band has faced which impacted their ability to tour there was an overwhelming sense of gratitude and at times there was a bit of emotion shown by Tyler Richardson knowing that they are lucky to be touring and how much playing live means to them.
The crowd were in to it singing the words back to the band with passion and conviction in songs such as as Tangled; Content and the anthemic Party Scene. If the band were looking for a lift it was moments like this and seeing how the crowd were responding. Aeroplane and Got To Give were great songs but it was the guest cameo from Adelaide’s very own Rulla that made Theme Song From HQ an addition to the show’s highlights reel. Sonny was emotive and a powerful moment in the set with Tyler speaking briefly about the difficult times recently concerning his son finishing on Anything Near Conviction. The encore was something special as well cover a song that everyone knows with Paul Kelly’s How To Make Gravy. Killer! The show came to end with set staple Clothes I Slept giving the fans one last chance to sing loudly in unison.
Live Review By Rob Lyon