Live Review: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Body Type

It was a feverish crew of punters that filled the Rosemount Hotel on Friday night, eager to catch a band whose reputation has been growing recently with astonishing pace. Before that, however, was an opportunity for Sydney-based quartet Body Type to showcase their wares before a capacity crowd and they took the opportunity with both hands. Their brand of rock isn’t particularly ferocious and songs generally move along at a driving pace but there were moments of space where the guitar notes and licks were given time to soar, and vocal harmonies could usually be relied on to hit their mark. As the throng inside built so too did the energy on stage, and by the set’s end, they’d generated quite a bit of electricity among the crowd.

And so on to the night’s headliners, who are in the midst of a national tour in support of the tremendous Hope Downs record. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have been building a significant international following over the last couple of years due to both the quality of their songwriting and their exhausting touring schedule. There’s absolutely no sign of fatigue among the five-piece however, and they ripped into tracks like Talking Straight and An Air Conditioned Man as if they were playing them for the first time. As usual, the shared vocal duties offered engaging points of interest, but the real draw lay in their ability to knock out a litany of tracks that are brilliantly melodic. Such is the strength of their repertoire, previous standout French Press is now just one of a number of outstanding songs, and older tracks like Colours Run and closer Wide Eyes sat comfortably among the new. They are tight, controlled and focused, and have a knack of delivering explosive sets that continually raise the bar. Tonight was no different, and they stamped themselves again as one of Australia’s best current live acts.