After one of the hottest days in recent memory, Calling All Cars, the Melbourne three-piece known for shredding guitars and blowing ear drums, were set to appear at Good God for the Sydney leg of their Werewolves tour.
The contingent of fans who braved the hot, windy work night were not disappointed, as the band put on a trademark set of bludgeoning rock.
However, before Calling All Cars took the stage, the crowd were set upon by punk band Super Best Friends, who played a belter of a set.
The Canberra punks were a furious ball of energy, bouncing all over the stage, shouting every lyric as though they were yelling over the din of a medieval battle.
Indeed, the two frontmen of Super Best Friends dueled out with their respective bass and guitar, charging down songs, like recent viral hit ‘Round And Round’, and ‘Karma Karma’, with an unwieldy energy.
Despite the band giving 110% and giving the sort of sonic output that could be compared to being immersed in a vat of hydrochloric acid, the room stayed relatively temperate.
The ‘elephant in the room’, as it was put so bluntly by the band, was addressed a few times, but to no avail. Despite putting on a hell of a show, their efforts went silently appreciated.
Calling All Cars took to the stage with little fuss, and from the point of engagement to the final chord, were a flurry of excited, bombastic energy.
The riffs were truly skin-blistering, especially in such a tight-knit atmosphere. By now, punters had packed into the previously empty space, but, besides a few dedicated front-rowers, the crowd was a swarm of nodding heads and popping up mobile phones.
There was a sense of pleasure, however the energy and output that was radiating from the stage seemed unrequited. Previous hits like ‘She’s Delirious’ ‘Animal’, ‘Hold, Hold Fire’ and new single ‘Werewolves’ proved to incite more of an acceptance to the concept that it was okay to move at a rock show.
Despite the lukewarm audience, Calling All Cars remained undeterred, Hayden Ing and Adam Montgomery constantly revolving on stage, thrashing around like electric eels had been dropped in their pants.
Despite the small room and squished atmosphere, Calling All Cars showed no sign of slowing down. There was plenty of showmanship and rock behavior, from climbing on amps to air kicks and walking into the crowd.
Finally, towards the end of the set, maybe because the band’s irrepressible energy was rubbing off on the audience, maybe because it was impossible to remain passive for an entire Calling All Cars show, the crowd began to really warm up.
New song ‘Raise The People’, which showed off more of a debut-album-Rage-Against-the-Machine (the best kind of RATM) side to the band, went down a treat, and the closer of ‘Reptile’ was a lesson in how best to shred in front of a crowd, taught by the professors of rock.
Although they played to a mediocre crowd, Calling All Cars persisted with an energy that gave them an edge, and allowed them to win over the venue. Couple this energy with tight songwriting and gale-force riffs, and you’ve got a recipe for one hell of a live show.
