Dear Seattle, Heart Attack Man, Towns, Lucky @ Jive, Adelaide 10/5/2025
Dear Seattle have had a massive year since the release of their new album TOY in January and now they return to Adelaide for the first of two shows in one day at Jive. With the first band on at 2.30pm it was a very weird feeling to be at a matinee rock show whilst there was still daylight and by gig’s end it was just shy of six o’clock, which makes one wonder how good would this be heading home this early after a show. Nevertheless, this was a stacked line up giving fans plenty of value for money with four great bands.
Melbourne artist Lucky got things off to a flying start. In short, she was fantastic bringing her blend of indie alt-rock to town. With thirty minutes to impress she did that and more with some killer tunes in the kit bag. Her live reputation is building having supported a number of others recently but it won’t be long before the spotlight shines on Lucky headlining shows in her own right. Set highlights and stand out was current single Clover and Never Know.
Adelaide’s very own locals favs TOWNS were up next and this duo of Daniel Steinert (drums) and Aston Valladares (vocals, guitar) gave everything despite looking tired from a show in Melbourne the night before. Once the switch had been flicked they were on and played a blinder powering through a turbo charged set kicking off with Birthdays and Speak For Myself. There was talk about mowing lawns and “if your Dad didn’t teach you shit” which was a precursor to can’t blame yr dad. There was also talk about our jelly donuts being better than in Cleveland based on a chat with main support Heart Attack Man . Flying through TANTRUM and leave Aston said that they “feel better now” having flown in from Melbourne a few hours earlier. Safe To Stay was great as was set staple Season 5 (Break My Fall) topped off by L8tley.
Heart Attack Man are an American punk rock band from Cleveland, Ohio and worth the ticket price alone. These guys deserved a lot more fan fare but we can say we’ve ’em in the intimate surrounds of Jive. With four albums and three EP’s to their credit created enormous opportunity with their set list with the majority of the set coming from new album Joyride The Pale Horse. Having set up their own gear they launched right in to Laughing Without Smiling. With a “Adelaide matinee, what’s up” and pointing out the green and blue Gatorade it was on to Spit, Pitch Black and Leap Year. Commenting on the flavoured milk scene here it was Out For Blood which was changed to Out For Milk. With time on the march there was plenty more gold to come with Joyride the Pale Horse, Like A Kennedy, Lay Down And Die, Fake Blood and finishing on Freak Of Nature.
With the stage well and truly warmed Dear Seattle played a smouldering set which was dominated by songs from 2025 release TOY. One thing is for certain their fan base is parochial about their band with fans getting right up close lifting the energy ten fold singing these songs loud and proud. It might of only been one hour but its what they did with that one hour that matters and it was all smiles from the band feeding off the energy off the crowd starting with Nothing’s Stopping Me Now, Way Out, the song about going to university in Maybe followed by another new song Elastic. With the enthusiastic crowd reaction why wouldn’t you be smiling.
The older songs such as Afterthought, idc and The Things We Do worked a charm and even front man Brae Fisher saying “that was mad!” There was plenty more choice new cuts to come with Counting Hours, Sungazer, Evergreen, Cut My Hair and in amongst that was another fan favourite Try. The crowd did go nuts on The Meadows and Daytime TV to finish the set. The only blemish was an unfortunate injury caused by someone on someone’s shoulders that lost balance bowling over a whole group of people leaving one fan with what looked like a potentially serious knee injury three quarters of the way through the last song. Incredibly unlikely at that point of the show, the band stopped for a moment looking concerned before resuming to finish off what was a great matinee show.
Live Review By Rob Lyon