On Saturday night, popular Adelaide alternative music venue, Jive, had the honour of hosting the launch of The Vasco Era’s latest single: ‘Child Bearing Hips’. The boys from Apollo Bay have been touring the country promoting their yet-to-be-released self-titled album which features this track.
First of two support acts, Kitchen Wife Knife, played a solid set to an almost empty house. Those present enjoyed the surprisingly cheerful mix of indie rock and folksy Britpop. Despite the small crowd, front man, Bernard Czaplinski, gave an engaging performance and even managed to get some call and response between band and audience going.
Recently returned from supporting prog rock mega band, The Mars Volta, second support act, Fearless Vampire Killers, brought with them a bluesy, rockin’ sound. Entertaining the (now fuller) crowd with a set of mostly their upbeat originals, including the first track from their yet-to-be-released debut album, For You and Me, the four-piece also treated the audience to a blistering rendition of The Beatles’ ‘Yer Blues’.
As The Vasco Era took to the stage, many fans were surprised to see the addition of a keyboard player to the tight knit trio. This was not the only change to normal proceedings, with front man Sid O’Neil laying down his signature Fender resonator, in favour of a dark blue Fender Strat for the first handful of songs. Even more surprises followed when the band launched straight into their usual end of show number, ‘Honey Bee’, as their opener.
Screaming his way through most of the set, Sid appeared more dishevelled than usual as he struggled to put on a t-shirt that was thrown onto the stage, and called for tequila shots. Despite this, he still managed to play a cracking show.
The set featured some of the tracks from the yet to be released album. New tracks ‘Rock And Roll Is The Only Thing That Makes Me Feel Good’ and ‘Child Bearing Hips’ were an instant hit with the crowd. However nothing could top the response to the tracks played from their 2007 album, Oh We Do Like To Be By The Seaside. The crowd went ballistic for old favourite, ‘When It First Showed Up’. It often seems strange that an album with such a limited release could have sparked so many live favourites without which a Vasco gig would seem incomplete.
As well as playing originals, Vasco got back to their roots by covering two iconic 60’s hits: Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. Before beginning Dylan’s classic, Sid gave an open invitation for fans to join the band on stage. The small Jive stage was promptly swamped with fans happily singing along.
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As the band began their final song, the early favourite ‘Kingswood’, security guards swarmed the stage demanding that the excess bodies be removed before the show could continue. Despite this the set ended on a high. The short set (less than an hour long) had the perfect mix of the old and new that left fans with a keen hunger for the much anticipated full album launch, tipped to be later this year.
– Brittany Chatburn
