Live Review: The Drones, Benajmin Witt

The local experimental sounds of Benjamin Witt proved to be a stellar opening of the evening's proceedings.

Not only did he draw a crowd in from the exterior bars but he wowed with a dense use of electronic beats stacked on the warm sounds of upright bass and saxophone as somewhat of a natural progression from the sounds developed with his previous band The Chemist. Witt's guitar melodies, while understated in their presence among the band's sound, dominated heavily in their complexity and ability to drive to the fore with scratchy riffs leaning to outright bombastic and mesmerising solos.

From the moment The Drones took to the stage, the noise favourites created something that cannot be described as anything but powerful. Wailing guitar lines and waves of feedback lead the opener of Private Execution, beginning a procession of angst, vitriol and gritty rock'n'roll with Gareth Liddiard's unapologetic stance on stage and the ruthless thrashing of his six-string. Though Feelin Kinda Free may have only been in our ears for a few weeks now, on first listen it was difficult to imagine how the record's sound would work within The Drones typically raucous set. The concerns were quickly washed away; tracks that may play light on record transformed into something merciless live, the tensile build-up of Taman Shud leading to a bone rattling bass breakdown from Fiona Kitschin.

While the night was a homecoming celebration for the new record the set left nothing behind, cutting through Jezebel, To Think That I Once Loved You and The Minotaur, the compressed bodies in the crowd hardly given a moment to breathe. It's been seven years since the band blasted River Of Tears at the Cannot Buy My Soul tribute concert. The song's composer Kev Carmody once said something along the lines of 'The passion in that performance is unbelievable,' and as the same song hit the crowd to close the night, the comment still rang true — the echoing power, passion and ruthless nature The Drones bring to their live performance, while just a piece of what makes them one of the country's finest acts, is exactly why they continue to jam venues everywhere.