Live Review: Died Pretty, Radio Birdman, Kim Salmon

Kim Salmon opened the double headliner show at the Gov when he took to the stage simply with his guitar and a tape player around his neck. Salmon has earned a degree of respect in the Australian rock scene performing as part of the Scientists and Beasts of Bourbon and it was tested in this set. In a performance that largely consisted of songs off of Salmon's most recent output, My Script, Salmon was loose, playful and vague, once even beginning to introduce one song before moving on to another mid sentence.

Despite the rawness of his sound, Salmon held the audience in his hands. When he hit his stride his sound was hypnotic and you could clearly see what made him a highly regarded songwriter and performer.

Died Pretty took the stage with frontman Ron Peno displaying the swagger and energy of someone half his age. It's hard to describe, like a much older Nick Cave learnt to perform from Mick Jagger, whatever it was, the energy was maintained throughout the entire performance. From his interactions with the crowd to the simple act of taking a drink of water, his movements oozed cool and the adoring audience ate it up. Died Pretty played like they were closing the show...or never performing again. It was life or death in this performance and it was deserving of their 15-minute encore. 

Finally, after a banner from the back of the stage adorned with their logo dropped, Radio Birdman appeared. Opening with their cover of the 13th Floor Elevators hit You're Gonna Miss Me, Radio Birdman took the audience through a history of their hard hitting, hook laden punk.

Having seen Radio Birdman, it became clear why their influence was so strong throughout Australian rock music. Their disdain and yet mastery of pop music was apparent and is a common theme throughout influential punk bands. Frontman Rob Younger and guitarist Deniz Tek performed with a workman-like vigour. Younger performed with the exact amount detachment you would expect - as expected from someone frequently described as the Godfather of independent Australian rock. 

After an hour and a half set including encore, the audience - who had largely aged with the band, creating a cool dad mosh - were well and truly worn out after one of the hardest hitting gigs I've been to in a while.