Teenage Dads, Phoebe Go, Aleksiah @ The Gov, Adelaide 31/8/2024
There were three brilliant acts at the Gov tonight. First up is local legend Aleksiah. I see a lot of wonderful local acts perform every week in Adelaide but I feel Aleksiah is a cut above the rest. I can see her and her band gaining in popularity and this will be helped with the national tour she has scheduled later in the year. She performed Fern, Getting Older and 24 from her first EP released this year, with 24 and Fern getting huge responses from the crowd. They played unreleased tracks Cold, Clothes Off and the recently recorded Batshit which will be released later this year. Aleksiah’s powerful and melodic vocals and indie dream-pop stylings created a fantastic support slot. Towards the end, they played a special version of Thirsty Merc’s In the Summertime which would be perfect for her and her band to perform at Triple J’s Like a Version on a Friday morning in the future hopefully one day.
Phoebe Go was up next which is the current moniker of Phoebe Lou previously of Snakadaktal and Two People. I had seen Phoebe Go supporting Hatchie in Adelaide in 2022 and was very happy to see her and her band again. Tonight, Phoebe played many songs from her superb 2024 album, Marmalade. She plays in a folky alt-pop style with the same dream-pop leanings as her first two bands. My highlights were 7 Up, Something You Were Trying and a solo version of Stupid from the new album as well as The Kid and We Don’t Talk from the 2022 EP. I am afraid the low light for me was the audience who were talking a little too much during her set. Phoebe said she would come back and I would love to see her and her band do their own headline show.
The headline act tonight was Teenage Dads who keep getting better each time I see them and it is great that are now playing at The Gov which is the biggest venue for them so far in Adelaide. They are a band from Victoria and have been playing for nearly ten years and their professionalism just shines through with all that experience, They have so many catchy songs with incredible hooks and riffs there was no let up for the whole ninety minutes they were on stage. They played all thirteen songs from their 2024 fantastic album, Majordomo. They initially released five singles from the album starting in June last year and I was interested to hear how good the rest was and there are certainly some wonderful songs on there.
They are a band that seems to be having as much fun on stage as their boisterous audience is listening and dancing to them. I love their indie rock pop style and I find the use of keyboards in a few songs changes things up and makes it even more interesting. Highlights from the latest album Majordomo were I Like It, Boyfriend, The Commander and Weaponz. I hope they keep their cover of the Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star as it is an exceptional version. The older songs I enjoyed were Thank You for the Honey, Honey, Midnight Driver and Hey Diego from their 2023 EP. The first song after the encore was the unusual but so catchy A Day in the Life of a No Good Pirate which is the last song from Majordomo. They ended with Speed Racer and everyone went home exhausted but with huge smiles.
Live Review By Richard De Pizzol