West Thebarton, OK Hotel, Ethanol Blend, Oil @ The Gov, Adelaide 21/6/2024

The evening at The Gov had a feel of a mini festival to it. Four bands hitting the stage over the course of the evening, headlined of course by Adelaide’s own West Thebarton. And it was good to see people flock in for the support bands, even though West Thebarton were not going to be on till late

On stage first were local band Oil, with their improvisational, shoegazing music. With two drummers on stage and two guitarists, they were the perfect foil for each other. At times both guitarists were using feedback together and at other times the drummers threatened to bring the tune to an end, only to kick the music off again. Shades of The Grateful Dead resonated around my head. It was one tune for the entire twenty seven minutes they were on stage and it was wonderful. As the tune finally came to a close, we were laughingly told, that was “our final song”.

Next up were Ethanol Blend who, in their own words are a four piece post folk band. “We came up here from Aldinga and Black Forrest” we were told. Not sure of the folk part but I definitely heard a bit of R.E.M. in the guitar sound. They started with What’s in My Head and followed it up with the “A” side of the same 2023 single, Hay Fever. As the crowd grew, the reception got louder with each song. They played a new song called Lies “from an album we are recording” and finished the polished set with the 2020 single Embrace. I hadn’t heard this band before this evening but will certainly be playing them a lot going forward.

OK Hotel hail from Wollongong and have a new album called Come Find Me to promote. “It’s great to be back in Adelaide” they greeted us. “it’s been a long time”. The band play alt- 90’s indie punk rock and drew the crowd in from the beer garden with their sound. We Got Break and Get Out from the new album Come Find Me. Josh Fogart (vocals/guitar) called out “Let’s get a bit loud” for Let You Go, also from the album. A collection of single and E.P tracks followed before Easy to Say closed out the set in grand style.

West Thebarton pulled a massive crowd to The Gov. It was standing room only and The Gov, expecting the heat to rise within the room for the band cranked up the air conditioning inside the venue, even though it was only a cold four degrees outside.

Firing off with MF World, the lead track from the new album, Mongrel Australia, it was pure frantic guitars and drums right from the beginning. And with a four-guitar attack, it was extremely frantic. I am not sure how Caitlin Thomas on drums could keep up with the pace, but keep up she did and indeed often setting the pace.

The “Reverend” Ray Dalfsen was not going to be left behind. He put the Energiser Bunny to shame with his leaping and running around on stage. The crowd near the front followed suit and it wasn’t long before bodies began circling in the air.

“It’s been a long time to take this album out on tour” Ray told us and taking it on tour they did, with ten of the thirteen tracks off the new album played during the set. “An oldie but a goodie” Stuck on You from the debut album came out early before a slew of tracks off the new album followed. Certificate, Hypersensitivity, George Michael and Modern Australia came rapidly, the latter being dedicated to the fans in the room. Faceless slowed things down a bit before Desire bought the level up again.

The closest thing to a ballad that West Thebarton would ever do, Slow, was indeed slow and according to Ray, “the first time we have ever played this song live and we are playing it especially for you people from Adelaide”. Nevertheless, once it finished Ray was quick to add “enough of the slow shit. Who wants to rock?” According to the response, it was everyone. The crowd was fever pitch as Ivan was spewed forth.
Bible Camp received a raucous reception, Tops took thing up a notch, and Basics has Ray screaming “Are you ready to go nuts?” as he removes his T-Shirt. Yes, we were ready.

But the apocalyptic ending was yet to come. The crushing Moving Out closed out the set. While people were crowd surfing, Ray, himself, just threw himself to the mercy of the audience, who caught him in their arms and moved him around the venue above their heads. At one stage he was hanging from the steel rafters holding the roof up doing chin ups then holding on with only one hand, turned upside down. He dropped to the crowd again and they moved him back to the stage for the final crescendo of the song.
The band left the stage, there would be no encore. You cannot follow an ending like that. The lights came up and we headed out into the cold Adelaide evening to cool down.

A big congratulations to the Adelaide fans who turned up for the three support bands. The room was full for all three bands, a sight not often seen at venues in Adelaide. It did feel like a mini festival, but like leaving a festival after a day’s entertainment, we left exhausted after only four hours of entertainment.
A beautiful, brutal and brilliant evening!

Live Review By Geoff Jenke