Live Review: ARIA Week: Triple J Unearthed Showcase-Kingswood, Meg Mac, L-Fresh The Lion

Where would Australian music be without triple j’s Unearthed? Nowhere, that’s where. With almost 20 years of time and effort having so far been given to digging up new Australian talent, Unearthed is far and away the best avenue for a band to get exposure in this country.

Tonight’s showcase presented just three examples of the amazing pool of artists available on Unearthed, and first up we were treated to L-Fresh the Lion. With his Punjabi influences, L-Fresh offers a fantastic take on our local brand of hip hop; not only that – he makes us smile. This set was all about bringing the party. Along with his hype MC partner Mirrah maniacally and joyfully bounding around stage, L-Fresh put the young crowd into a great mood for the evening to come.

Meg Mac has had a big year, culminating in the 2014 J Award for ‘Unearthed Artist of the Year’. So it was with interest we watched to see if the publicity lived up to reality. There’s little doubt that Megan McInerney is an excellent talent with a strong soulful voice. The soul-pop tag fitted perfectly as McInerney crooned through the tracks from her self-titled EP. There’s room here for something else though. Maybe something up-beat to showcase her diversity, or maybe we just missed the hype MC. A solid performance from the youngster though.

The crowd was getting rowdy for a Thursday night as we were treated to a hyperactive performance of Alex Dyson dancing to Sia’s Chandelier in a flesh-coloured leotard. Things cannot be unseen. We were soon distracted however, as Kingswood strode onto the stage, diving into All Too Much. It’s sometimes forgotten that Kingswood won the coveted Splendour in the Grass Unearthed spot in 2012. They’ve been rocking their way around the country ever since. Despite The Hi-Fi’s PA system feeling like it was about to explode and the uncharacteristic loose playing (hey, it’s ARIA Week), the Melbourne quartet continue to show they are the rock’n’roll future.