Live Review: Gomez, Riley Pearce, Carla Geneve

Gomez has been giving their landmark debut album, Bring It On, a celebratory tour and Wednesday night saw them close out their Australian dates in fine style at Metro City.

The band spread the love to the host city by giving some Perth talent the chance to warm up the crowd. Carla Geneve stood up first on her lonesome, black Telecaster slung over her. Gritty, driving rhythms with a growl underpinned complex lyrics, Geneve delivered that package with class and clarity. Boy can she play and sing. Watch out.

Riley Pearce followed up with a set of mellower, introspective material, which was sonically polished, but perhaps too laid-back for a now rapidly gathering crowd on the hunt for some rock stylings.

Gomez however delivered those stylings in spades. The opening strains of Get Miles rang out emphatically, an eye-opening demonstration of just how hard you can rock with a keytar and a shaker. The crowd ate it up as the bass drum added its thrum and boom. It was a jubilant reception and we were off.

Gomez proceeded to work their way through Bring It On's tracklist, one classic tune after another. The band were relaxed and fully in command, as you might expect from such veterans, including great work from all three of the vocalists as they delivered their signature blend of blues, pop and funky rock at a whirlwind pace.

By the time we got to Tijuana Lady, the instrument trading had gotten out of hand, with Tom Grey migrating from keyboards to guitar and then to bass. Acoustic guitars spread across the stage like a virus (albeit one that induces happiness) - only to recede as bass player Paul Blackburn dumped his for the keytar. Heck of a party trick, boys.

A quick Happy Birthday for sound engineer Dave's 50th, in honour of his having seen not some, not most, but every single one of Gomez's gigs ever - more than the band members themselves, they claim. Then we were back into the album, and in the second half of the show some funky grooves and some guitar wizardry began to shake things up. Even a brief detour into some Van Halen-style fingerboard tapping, but everyone thought better of that pretty quickly.

By the time Get Myself Arrested rolled along, the punters were in full singalong mode and before you knew it, the album was complete. But the band had plenty more to pull out of a hat, and they did so until nigh on midnight. Gomez's fans are a dedicated lot (did I mention it was a Wednesday, and they mostly looked employed?), and their commitment was rewarded with great musicianship and a tremendous range and quality of material and performance. Bring it on? Please do Gomez, as often as you can.