Live Review
Kingswood @ The Met
Melbourne based Indie Rock Band, Kingswood, returned to Brisbane last Friday. Veering down a bricked alley way off Wickham Street, where we were met with the realities of an all ages event and funnelled through the entrance of The MET marked with green or pink wrist tags on the basis of our age. The over 18s lofted up the staircase toward the back bar for a more expansive view, meanwhile the young ones congregated at the feet of the stage anticipating the bands to come.
Before the show my friend described the NSW band, The Vanns, as sounding like Gang of Youths or Catfish and The Bottlemen. Perhaps it was their laid back vibe on stage, but you could almost hear the shore line influence wash over their performance on stage. The crowd shuffled along to The Vanns, excluding a few young ones who were keyed up for the night. However, during the performance Cam Little stood out on guitar. Little’s intensity on stage added a needed presence to the piece, when at other times The Vanns appeared timid.
During The Vanns performance individuals and posies had shuffled in quietly, when the lights brightened between bands, we were surprised by how the size of the audience had swelled around us. The crowd was a pleasing assortment of ages and demographics, for an all-ages show.
Between sets a friend commented on the last Kingswood gig they went to and then our conversation was interrupted by the rift from ‘Like Your Mother’. Once again, a good night with Kingswood was foreseeable. By the time ‘She’s My Baby’ followed ‘Suckerpunch’ most us were pressing into our heels, the music forcing us to occupy as much space as the people surrounding us could tolerate.
Lead singer Fergus Linacre asked the crowd to “show off their dance moves” as they eased their way into ‘I can feel that you don’t love me’, the crowd slinked along to the beat. Popular Kingswood song ‘Atmosphere’ had smiles stretching from ear to ear on each audience member, a testament not only to the band, but to the efforts of those working behind the scenes on stage lighting. Kingswood’s version of ‘Say My Name’ lead to the crowd belting out the lyrics to the Destiny Child hit.
Alex Laska’s guitar solos are a reoccurring crowd pleaser at Kingswood shows, however a unique component of Fridays show was the incorporation of the brass players. The two backing vocalists also added a depth to the Kingswood gig, which lead me to wonder if the venue space could have been utilised to accentuate their participation.
‘Micro Wars’ had everyone dancing and long-time fans singing along. Kingswood finished on a strong note, with ‘Creepin’. Out of the four of us who met for the Kingswood gig, two of us had seen Kingswood before and the other were completely unfamiliar with the band. We left The MET at ten, each of us thrown by such an early finish time and restless for the next Kingswood gig.
Elizabeth Ralph