Rolling Blackouts CF. Tivoli. 27/10/2022
The Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever rolled into the Tivoli on Thursday night, sprinting on stage to deliver a stir fry mix to their fans, a group so impassioned with their band, last time around at the Tiv the barriers broke.
The indie-rock Melbournians were clearly stoked to be there, sharing laughs on stage in a feel good performance that kicked off with An Air Conditioned Man and following with an high octane eighteen song set, featuring all the fan favourites, including French Press, Talking Straight and Cameo.
Front man duties are shared between the three guitarists, cousins Fran Keaney and Joe White, alongside their friend Tom Russo. Tom’s brother Joe Russo plays bass, and Marcel Tussie occupies the drums kit.
With a line up that’s unchanged since 2013 (which in band years is about 112) the chemistry between them is lovely to see, with Joe Russo furiously head bobbing and hip swaying, Marcel throwing his whole body behind the sticks and the three front men alternating between songs and creating beautifully dissonant harmonies as they sing as one.
The show is a smorgasbord of old songs and newer material from their most recent album, Endless Rooms. While all their albums deliver stylistically similar, quintessential Aussie alt-rock, the songs from Endless Rooms feel deeper and more developed. That’s not to say the older music isn’t as good, it’s just that the new songs like Blue Eye Lake and My Echo seem like the next step in the band reaching their artistic potential. On stage they appear to get into playing the newer songs more.
Lyrically, the Rolling Blackouts tell stories of nights long gone, political unrest and social justice that can easily get lost in the intoxicating guitar riffs.
Closing out the night with Cars in Space, the crowd was fiending for more, and the Blackouts provided, with the jangling guitars of Clean Slate.
A special shoutout goes to supporting act Floodlights, who set the tone with a high voltage set, and more than a few outrageous harmonica solos. The four-piece band out of Melbourne connects with their audience with honest lyrics that offer a glimpse into their political views and personal struggles. When the Floodlights switched off, Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever turned up the temperature at the Tiv to red hot.
Max Mobbs
