Redhook, The Beautiful Monument, Eat Your Heart Out, Patient Sixty Seven @ UniBar, Adelaide 7/9/2024
‘How are we Melbourne…’ Emmy Mack, vocalist, performer, whirlwind motormouth of RedHook cuts herself off however the cats out of the bag. Emmy has just confused a notoriously parochial crowd with its fiercest neighbour. Like any good theatre story, no one saw this twist coming. How will Mack, hero to enemy in seconds, win back the crowd and turn this silver screen love story back around?
That is what tonight is. It’s a four-chapter journey of discovery, growth, fear and, hopefully, redemptive success. With a stellar supporting cast of Australian talent, tonight’s show reaches out and touches your emotions, building and weaving a storyline that concludes in similar fashion to a Marvel Avengers movie. So how does this story start?
Chapter 1 follows Patient Sixty-Seven and vocalist Tom Kiely begins in a more reserved manner before the hat comes off, the hair let down and the screams unleashed in acts of defiantly growing. The band are metalcore and Kiely’s harsh vocals are flanked by Rory Venville’s dual cleans and guitar riffs which stand out in tracks like Scattered which harnesses the band’s energy into a hand waving, camera lights harmonised opening act.
In any four part story, the crux of the story line appears in Act 2 and we get this with Eat Your Heart Out from Newcastle. The energy from all parties is dialled high, vocalist Caitlin Henry an effervescent blur of harmony over a band that evidently are enjoying themselves.
Some technical difficulties arrive to become the evening story’s evil entity that the bands must stand up against however introducing Lizi from The Beautiful Monument, therefore fighting back up, is an inspired choice. Blood is a delightfully crafted song and Scissors In My Skin has a wicked dark dynamic shift that precedes how heavy Act 3 is gong to become.
The Beautiful Monument have steadily worked their own character development into an intelligent, inspired yet brooding outfit we all love in the movies. The cool kid who is dangerous but actually a sweetheart. They rip into Act 3 with a force in Invisible that doesn’t let up while Deceiver combines heavy riffs with touching melodies.
Guitarist Alex Manhire is outed as a Adelaide ex-pat and Port Adelaide fan – told you they were the cool kid – as Stay ironically took me to another place as I let the song take over me. The band hit every hard riff, every downbeat, like thunder as Lizi McIntosh rallies the troops. The darkness of what this story is in Act 3 – the evenings characters realising that life isn’t fair but you must rise against it – as they finish with Misery continues to be gripping and leaves us all primed for the final act.
RedHook are this story’s main protagonists, and they start the final showdown with a bouncing Pyromanic before Mack alerts us to issues with the laptop. Like any good villain, technical glitches refuse to die.
Emmy is a leader of a wacky circus has that quite a few moves to fight off the evil entity as Off With Your Head packs the energy of a rocket ship launching as Mack turns it up a notch on stage.
Imposter see’s Lizi from Beautiful Monument back up for a cameo that has the crowd sold. That combination works and this vaudeville, theatrical extravaganza is won.
Until the aforementioned mistaken city slip that is. The enemy has come back for one last dual to the death and Mack for her part knows at once. The charm offence is deployed – and I’ve waited years to hear that Shelbyville Simpsons reference used on stage, well played – and Emmy’s natural ability to build rapport extinguishes the flames quickly.
RedHook are a unique band to put into a pocket. Are they punk, emo, metal? I don’t know however very few bands can play saxophone. Yep, it’s saxy time.
Mack creates a wall of death that stretches to every corner however this time – wholesome is the word used – it’s a wall of hugs and you know what? It works. Once everyone rushes to hug others, it creates a giant happy bouncing pit that is impressive to behold.
That’s the key to RedHook, while Mack paints her story with dashes of colour, angst and passion, for the crowd it’s a safe space to be who you want to be, to let go and enjoy the moments. The circle pit just keeps going to smiling faces when no one is worried about male toxicity in the pit. It’s really cool to see.
Back to the mayhem on stage as bassist Ned Jankovic and guitarist Craig Wilkinson continue to deliver the sonic soundscapes for Mack to engage expertly. The enemy is vanquished, and we now reach the epilogue of this movie. The winning celebrations. Tom from Patient Sixty-Seven is back for Kamikaze, Caitlin from Eat Your Heart Out for another saxy time Soju and Beautiful Monument’s bassist Amy McIntosh nearly steals the show in Cannibal.
Like the end of an Avengers movie, the whole cast in tonight’s theatre appear on stage for Bad Decisions, a raucous belter of a track.
This line up dealt with their enemies, they fell, they rose back up and they conquered. All with a little help from their friends. This is must-see viewing.
Live Review By Iain McCallum