Deathstars Night Electric Night Tour
Saturday 26 September 2009, Corner Hotel, Richmond.
For many people Saturday 26 September 2009, or "The last Saturday in September" meant a day cheering or crying as Geelong and St Kilda played an extremely close and entertaining Grand Final.
However while people left the stadiums to go celebrate The Cats' victory, a rather large bunch of young - and old - adults were just surfacing and getting ready to go see self proclaimed "deathglam" monsters all the way from Sweden DEATHSTARS - for the first time EVER to hit Australian shores!
The doors didn’t open on time, and the cloakroom wasn’t open, which meant having to line up and battle with the people buying drinks in order to cloak my jacket.
But all setbacks aside I still managed to land a good position with only one person in between the barrier and me. Meaning a great view to a highly anticipated show.
The first band sent to warm up the crowd was Familia, a local act from Sydney. I had never heard of them before. They played well and got the crowd going, which is always a good thing.
The next band, also from Sydney, was INK, another band that was unheard of by me. They were also a band that won me over! INK has a reputation for having a killer live show, and I can see why! They know how to deliver talented music blended with an intense live presence.
By the end of their set I was in agreement with the majority of the crowd: INK should have played a longer set, and I just hope they come back to Melbourne again soon.
However shortly every band I had seen before were pushed out of my mind as Deathstars took the stage. At once we were under the spell of the Swedish boys parading on stage playing their rave-reviewed new album Night Electric Night and also doing what all good bands should do: playing some of their back catalogue for the older, loyal fans.
Deathstars have a reputation for being theatrical and very energetic live. Nothing short of this would have been accepted by the mob at the gig.
If anyone doubted them they soon found themselves rather foolish as Deathstars delivered with more charisma and energy than the crowd knew what to do with.
Appearing on stage with their signature outfits and makeup, they started hard and they didn’t stop.
Front man Whiplasher Bernadotte addressed the audience with his amazing Swedish accents and soon had the crowd leaping over one another just to touch a part of him, but he didn’t let it distract him from what he came to do.
Sadly though, after multiple encores, Deathstars chose to retire and leave us all wanting more and praying for a hasty return to Australia.
The only criticism I would have, if it’s even possible to criticise such a band, was that a bigger venue, such as The Billboard, would have enabled Deathstars to really perform the way they would overseas. As brilliant as they were, I believe they were restricted due to the venue.
Nonetheless it was an amazing and memorable first show ever for Melbourne and no doubt with the reaction they got, there will be another tour in the not so distant future.
A 4.5 out of 5 event and no doubt a 5 out of 5 on their return!
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