Karnivool, Sleep Talk @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 1/6/2024
It was a full house last night at Hindley Street Music Hall playing host to the mighty Karnivool and Sleep Talk which was the last stop on Tri Continental Drift tour. Even at seven o’clock the line to get in went down Hindley Street and wrapped its way around the corner well up Morphett Street with the “Vooligans” wanting to bag their spot with premium viewing knowing it would be a tight squeeze later on by getting there early.
With a big crowd there early Sleep Talk, who flew the Adelaide flag proudly, relished the opportunity to play another big show on this tour. No doubt winning over some new fans with their spirited forty five minutes playing songs from their new EP Go Be Happy well and truly warming the stage for Karnivool.
Karnivool are seriously elite players! When you look and consider the list of Australia’s very best Karnivool must rate highly on that list now. Wasting no time at all the band rips through latest single All It Takes which was followed by front man Ian Kenny saying “Welcome to the show, hello my Adelaide friends.” The crowd ramped up hearing the opening notes of C.O.T.E singing and jumping in sheer delight. Kenny said that he could feel that the crowd was going off and there is no doubt this lifted the band ten fold.
The crushing and pounding bass lines of Goliath were incredible lifting the intensity of their performance. There is definitely something to be excited about with Karnivool treating fans to new music on this tour ahead of a new album due hopefully later this year but it was the old favourites of Mauseum and Simple Boy that got the crowd excited. Slipping in new songs Aozora and Animation didn’t look out of place either rocking just as hard as the favourites. We Are from Asymmetry was an awesome choice.
Hard to believe that an hour had literally whizzed by and it was great to hear guitarist Mark Hosking say that they love Adelaide and can always guarantee a massive turnout anywhere and any time they play here. The later stages of their set saw the band bring out the big guns and if we had not been blown away by now we certainly were by the end. Wowsers!
Deadman packed plenty of punches as did Roquefort but if there was any moment that was going to be front of the highlights reel it would have been Themata. Absolutely epic! The crowd were loud and raucous, the crowd surfers got their moment and it had all the trimmings for that perfect live video release. With the end near it was the ethereal charm of Aeons and the anthemic New Day to bring an awesome show to a close. With the amount of Vooligans on board now I’m certain we’ll be seeing them play a much bigger venue next tour.
Live Review By Rob Lyon