Photo: Kay Cann

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Luca Brasi’s well received fourth album Stay excels in that it has a solid sense of identity. The songs are rooted in quiet confidence, not surprisingly when the band has been a crowd favourite at music festivals and headlining gigs. The Rosemount that night was shoulder-to-should, and unlike their hub-bub at their gig in Sydney, the crowd were determined to have a good time.

Hometown band Flossy opened the night, followed by America’s Tiny Moving Parts. This was surprisingly their first tour in Australia and that’s a bit of a travesty because the family trio from Minnesota gave a blazing set with more energy than a six-pack of Red Bulls.

Coming on stage and launching into a fast paced set, lead singer Dylan Mattheisen took charge almost hurling himself onto the mic to attack with their blend of emo revival rock. With fans up at the barricade singing along to every song, the group including drummer William Chevalier and bassist Matthew Chevalier were committed enjoying every moment. With songs consisting of drum parts paced like a rabbit’s heart that caught the optimistic melodic guitars to only be brought together with Mattheisen’s contemplative vocal, in a word their set was a stunner.

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Photo: Kay Cann

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With a “Perth how the fuck are ya?!” from frontman and newly graduated teacher Tyler Richardson, the group opened with the expansive and ambitious album opener Stay, which then moved quickly into Let It Slip and with the residual energy rippling through the audience from Tiny Moving Parts, it gave the band something to build upon as the made their way through The In-Between and Reeling, a song which set the crowd off.

And Luca Brasi knows a thing or two about the stirring up a crowd. Is there anything more comical than watching security try to stop crowd surfers when you have a band laying down gritty guitar riffs, tribal drum fills and a collective attitude that shouted defiantly ‘Fuck yeh!’. In fact, throughout the set, Richardson roused and replied back to the packed crowd with several ‘fuck yehs’, like a Sargent demanding a response from his troops.

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Photo: Kay Cann

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The crowd were happy to comply even leading to a boisterous rendition of Happy Birthday for drummer Danny Flood, which then led another birthday sing-a-long for his twin. A supremely relaxed happy vibe exuded from the group as they played through their set. 2014’s Borders and Statelines got a look in and was placed nicely amongst a set list dominated by songs from Stay.

Never Better and Got To Give was a breather in an intense set allowing the band to show off a reflective tone. Even through harder songs like Time Flew, which drove headlong into grungy guitars by members Thomas Busby and Patrick Marshall, the band talents shone through as they turned it all on a dime to slow it down with Count Me Out, to then go back to rocking it with the brashy Clothes I Slept In. Luca Brasi has a real knack for tying all the nuances of their songs together with an incredible sense of catchy, melodic alt-rock. Even watching them perform sets them apart from other bands, as they own the stage looking like a band of men who know what the fuck they’re doing rather than a band of boys hoping for the approval of their audience.

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Photo: Kay Cann

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Bringing it all down in their encore with the restrained Collisions and then capping it off with the fan’s beloved Anything Near Conviction, Luca Brasi is deservedly one of Australia’s best live bands and it’s absolutely no surprise they have sold out every single one of their shows. Thanking the audience for their support and for actually knowing the songs off the new album, Luca Brasi left the stage as Kings.

4.5 stars

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Check out Kay Cann’s gallery from
The Gov, Adelaide HERE

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Connect with LUCA BRASI @ OneBigLink

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AMNPLIFY – DB