Live Review

Harts @ The Foundry

Harts is Australia’s funky answer to Jack White. Fighting the same fight he had to with modern DJs and Rappers. Fighting with a bluesy rock ’n' roll, except now with more funk fundamentals and danceable grooves, to convince the listeners of modern dance beats that guitar orientated music isn’t ‘dead’ as most people like to assume, or wish for. Whatever the modern generation’s opinion of rock ’n’ roll is, it’s certainly not one that you will get a large following from. It is after all, a fight. 

From what I saw, that’s exactly how Harts treats it. His audience is so vast and non-specific, that he has to fight to keep everyone entertained and enjoying the performance. What can be an amazing solo for one person can be just a few notes to another, unless the performer makes you know it’s an amazing solo by their actions, their body movements and their faces as everything convulses with each note.

It was a true performance, every action seemed tried and rehearsed many times, and that was certainly a tight aspect of the show. During each solo, Harts would do very cliché ‘guitar god’ tricks, from sliding down onto his knees, to playing the guitar behind his head, all of it was amazing and spectacular, enticing the audience to shout and scream for more. But after the fourth time he had slid onto his knees , I was starting to get a bit neck sore, it just seemed like he was trying to give a defibrillator shock to anyone who might have been zoning out, and that shock was the screams of girls and guys as he did each of these tricks, every time. And it landed every time. He had the audience in the palm of his hand, a completely sold out venue, all trying to see what this Australian ‘Prince/Hendrix fusion’ could do.

And what he could do was very good. He provided the memorable ‘How are you going, Brisbane?’ between what seemed like each song. I almost thought it had all been scripted, down to 5 words, but when he started playing, it all faded away. The Drummer was amazing, using a mixed hybrid kit, with normal skin drums and electronic triggers on the side for Harts’ trademark claps and low sub hits. Harts himself was totally mesmerising to watch play and he used the stage with so much grace during performances, moving between synth and two microphones, the whole stage became his and it lent itself well to the moveable music. While some of the actions may have been cliché, they still landed, and worked in songs. His playing was totally on point, from funky riff to riff the groove stayed strong, tight and danceable. Solo breaks are predicted when going to see a guitarist/songwriter only backed up by a drummer, but these solos seemed to have so much body behind them, with Harts’ loops still re-enforcing riffs in the background, everything still had so much body, everything was enticing to the audience, if they weren’t screaming, they were dancing.

Darren Harts is probably one of the best live acts Australia has to offer at the moment, his playing is amazing, his performance is exhilarating, and the mood of the show seemed to be flowing with electricity as each note slammed out of the speakers. Harts is Australia’s next big export waiting to happen, so I’d advice going to see him at any chance you can get.

- Coby Healey

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