It’s been three long years since the King Khan & BBQ Show have graced our shores with their wacky brand of garage rock but the fact the first night of their two-night stand was sold out and packed solid with a hungry audience proves they were hugely missed.
Newcastle’s Gooch Palms got things under way with their two piece feed of home brewed rock and it didn’t take long before guitarist and vocalist, Leroy Macqueen, stripped down to his body suit giving the crowd full frontal nudity along with his hot guitar licks.
Drummer, Kat Friend, provided the backbone to the simple yet fun songs proving that less really is more. In the lead up to the release of their long awaited full length album, Novo’s, they are one band to definitely keep your ears out for as they are creating quite a name for themselves with their aptly titled self-made genre of “shit-pop”.
The Frowning Clouds are one of Australia’s best kept secrets. Playing an authentic style of 60s-inspired garage rock, these youngsters managed to fill the Tote with punters as they dished out song after song of memorable catchy tunes.
The crowd showered the band with cheers and praise with the only downside being that their slower numbers lacked the energy and the momentum gained by their more upbeat rockers. If they skipped the slower tunes, they would be a sure-fire hit. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for so do yourself a favour and catch them next time if you have yet to do so.
There really isn’t anything quite like The King Khan & BBQ Show. It’s a chaotic jam of two guys dressed in capes and headdresses mixing punk, garage, 50s rock ‘n’ roll and the occasional death metal growls that really has to be experienced to believe. Khan’s offensively funny onstage banter mixed with Mark Sultan’s incredible vocals reminiscent of the great Del Shannon, the two manage to create a fun filled night of sloppy punk rock.
Watching Sultan sing while playing both the drums and guitar at the same time with ease is quite the spectacle while Khan’s metal solos and trash guitar jams round out the duos disjointed sound. Most times it sounds unrehearsed and spontaneous which just adds to the show making it unpredictable and usually chaotic yet ultimately fun.
Whether the band were singing songs of romance with I’ll Be Loving You, Waddlin Around, and Love You So, or belting out the guitar twang of Fishfight, or simply just thrashing through four on the floor punk numbers like Truth Or Dare and Pig Pig, all those in attendance, packed into the Tote like sardines, happily braved the rising body heated temperatures and danced up a storm. You could definitely feel the love in the room, even before King Khan advised the audience to lick each other’s necks and, ahem, other orifices. Simply put, it was wild.
The band refrained from leaving the stage due to the difficulty in getting to the backstage room and decided to just continue on and play an encore of another two classics for the happy gig goers.
Shake Real Low had everyone in such good spirits and nobody wanted it to end. It really was a good night of enjoyable moments and a great way to spend a horrible wet Tuesday night in Melbourne. Let’s hope it’s not another three years before they return to our shores.
