Live Review: Boys Boys Boys!, Dianas, Kitchen People, The Surf Rabbits

The Bakery promised a beach party on Saturday night as part of Fringe World and it delivered, with punters having to make their way in via the street entrance and through rooms lined up with colourful leis and hanging pieces of bathers in clothesline fashion.

In the main room, inflatable balls, birds and big ice-cream cardboard cutouts were pinned up around the venue, and everyone enjoyed cheap cocktails for the evening. The Surf Rabbits kicked things off on stage and tied in perfectly with the theme of the evening with a number of beach-related songs and a particularly memorable lyric – “There’s something in the pool at Adventure World”. It was all delivered in gutsy rock fashion reminiscent of the B-52s; they’d do a great job of Rock Lobster. Kitchen People thrived in the environment as well, the four gents looking the part with colourful shirts and sunnies donned all set. The quartet can procure a hell of a catchy surf-rock hook, and they’ve developed an impresssive catalogue of tunes, but the highlight definitely came at the end of the set when they covered Rockaway Beach in supreme fashion – vocalist Jake Suriano could have been born to sing it.

Dianas smoothened the tempo slightly; they’ve definitely shifted more toward that dream-pop sound from their traditional lo-fi surf-rock sound, but it suits them well. They’re back in the studio at the moment so it’s with eager anticipation that we wait and see what they produce. Boys Boys Boys! brought in a crowd and had grooving to their bubblegum pop from the get go with Cut The Roof Off Your Car, complete with their signature cheer-leader style dance moves. Jerico Wallace and Bridget Turner swapped lead vocal duties as usual all night, smashing through a heap of tracks from their latest album including the popular Don’t Bail Out and Holiday, while older hit Ticky Ticky Boom received a cheer of recognition and the most enthusiastic dancing of the evening. The band finished up but the party continued late into the night thanks to the ‘Lifeguard’ DJ – it proved to be the perfect way to spend a warm summer evening.