May 28, 2011 by kustomkultureaustralia
Whenever you see a legendary band, there’s heaps of excitement, though it’s mixed with a tinge of nervousness – what happens if they’re just a bunch of old blokes going through the motions, with no mojo or stage presence? This was in the back of my mind last night when I checked out The Atlantics, and I’m stoked to say they were AWESOME!
The venue for the evening was The Vault in Windsor. I banged on about the place after I saw Ash Grunwald there, so I won’t bore you with the details – suffice to say it’s a great venue and the food is tops.
Proceedings were started by Glenn A. Baker, Aussie rock guru. He introduced the band and hyped up the crowd. He reminded us of the historical significance of the band, and how we were privileged to see some living legends perform right before our very eyes. And yes, he was wearing his trademark funny little hat.
The Atlantics set was fantastic. I think what really hit me was how powerful, how primal the music was live – cranked up and hitting you right in the chest. Sure the guitar was amazing, but the pounding drums rolled out an intoxicating and hypnotic surging rhythm. You know those days at the beach when there’s a storm front coming through, the wind is picking up and the waves are pounding onto the shore? There’s a tangible sense of energy and foreboding in the air, and man the sound just keeps coming. That’s the vibe you get right in front of the stage at an Atlantics gig. You could almost smell the salt air!
Some of the great covers included an awesome rendition of Pipeline (complete with dueling lead guitars), the Hawaii 5.0 theme, and the most beautiful rendition I’ve ever heard of Wedding Cake Island. As well as playing some of the bands newer stuff, they also delved into the back catalogue and pulled out classics like Come On, recorded in the bands ‘garage punk’ era (and it even included singing!). Of course Bombora got the crowd’s attention, and was definitely one of the highlights of the night. Finishing it all off was Saturday Night, with The Crusher as a fitting high energy encore piece.
And with that it was time to head off into the darkness in the search of home, drums and guitars still pulsating in our chests.
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