Free Throw, Microwave, Garage Sale, Kurralta Park @ Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide 2/8/2025
Now this was a show!
There was plenty of Saturday night happenings in Adelaide rock city on Saturday but the place to be was the co-headline tour featuring American emo band Free Throw from Nashville, Tennessee and American rockers Microwave from Atlanta, Georgia and aptly supported by Garage Sale from Melbourne plus Kurralta Park flying the Adelaide flag. Plenty of value for money on offer here and would have been difficult to walk away disappointed.
Kurralta Park opened proceedings and I’m wondering why I haven’t heard of this band before because they were impressive and have a bright future ahead of them. Making all the right noises there is plenty to like and forthcoming album Powell Place featuring the awesome single Wall is something to keep a keen eye out for.
There has also been been quite a lot of hype around Melbourne band Garage Sale and they live up to every bit of that and some. Fitting the ‘shoegaze’ moniker it is easy to see why music lovers are drawn to this band slotting perfectly in the file under alt-rock. New single Punching Up was killer in a really enjoyable set.
The build up to Microwave was all rather low key and more akin to workers clocking on for work then tuning their guitars before ploughing right in to it. There wasn’t a lot of banter with the crowd despite front man Nathan Hardy starting with “we’re fucking stoked to be here!” It seem as if they had their own fan club as they were excitable right from the get go of Stovall hanging off every note and singing the words back to the band. Things kicked up a gear on Lighterless and Float To The Top. It was a lively set and the music did all the talking. Let’s Starts Degeneracy and Circling The Drainwould have been right up there as pick of the bunch followed closely by Bored Of Being Sad and set closer Vomit which was an obvious crowd favourite stirring up the mosh pit down front.
Both Microwave and Free Throw are arguably both headliners in their own right and its great to see such comradery and mate ship between both bands. Free Throw lead singer Cory Castro pointed that out about how much of a privilege it is touring with mates.
Free Throw upped the ante playing a spirited set covering their discography but with a greater focus on Those Days Are Gone which has just celebrated a ten year anniversary. Such Luck starts in a quite unassuming way before opening up in a more expansive way. I love the rawness in Castro’s vocals drawing on every emotion and creating something quite heartfelt particularly on the likes of The Corner’s Dilemma. The fans could pick the big moments and Pallet Town was one of them. Rather than get swept up in the adulation of the crowd Castro said “we got to keep it rolling, there’s a lot of songs to play.”
Speaking of a lot of songs to play there were a stack of good ones haven chosen wisely curating a set the fans would love. Tongue Tied was an absolute beauty as was A Part Is Better Than Zero. There was a moment of reflection where Castro said he couldn’t believe that he was ten thousand miles away from home and there people here enjoying their music. Adelaide got some special treatment with the rarely played Now Kith which was cool. The set was loaded with anthems including Two Beers In and Randy, I Am the Liquor which just about brought the roof down. What a moment! It didn’t stop there with Nathan Hardy joining Free Throw on What Day Is It, October? topping off their set with Hey Ken, Someone Methodically Mushed the Donuts. The crowded chanted for one more but when you’re that good you don’t need an encore. Definitely a great night of live music.
Live Review By Rob Lyon