Live Review: Living Colour, The Kids, Jeremy Costa, Craig Calhoun & The Brothers Of Oz

When the first sound from the first band is a bass slap, you know it’s going to be a good night. Craig Calhoun fronts his band - The Brothers Of Oz - with a smile, a freedom to improvise and a huge talent on the funk-bass that has seen him travel the world. Warming the early crowd up was a cinch for this guy, running through some bass-driven funk.

Jeremy Costa has the musician thing down pat. A leather jacket, an old-school swagger and a pumping six-piece band bring his soul-rock to the fore. He’s also got some serious vocal chops that soar over the music. There was a great mix of soul, pop and good old-fashioned rock'n’roll in a set that showcased an excellent local talent going places.

It’s great when an international act selects three local groups to support them, and even better when a young, energetic group get a crack to play on stage with some legends. The Kids have had a big year, supporting luminaries like Skid Row and Rose Tattoo and it’s their obvious ability to cut loose on stage that attracts people to them. 

The punk rock crossed over into rap rock at times, but the youngsters have done their homework, ripping through a cover of Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name and The Damned’s New Rose. The drummer and significant mouth-piece for the group, Jagger Alexander-Erber, wasn’t afraid to get lippy and wreak havoc on the kit. Ending with a petulant, “Good night and fuck you!”, The Kids’ parents might be unsure whether to congratulate or punish them. Super fun to watch though.

The band that broke out of the glam rock era, turned grunge on its head and never wavered from their social relevance, Living Colour, returned to Australia for the third time in five years in celebration of their debut album, Vivid. The album not only stood out for its musicality, the fusion of funk, hip-hop rock and metal, but for the fact it was being made by four African-American guys that broke into the mainstream.

The crowd were broken up into fans of each performer. The epic guitarist, Vernon Reid, brings the strummers to the left, the outlandish Doug Wimbish, attracts the bassists to the right, whilst the drummers witness the brilliance of Will Calhoun and his OTT kit (props to the Aussie-made Sleishman drums too) front and centre. They make music that is, and has always been, for musicians.

Unlike other nostalgic album tours, the band didn’t play them in order, instead starting with the hits Middle Man and Desperate People, both performed with searing ferocity straight out of the gate. It’s obvious just how well the four work together, as they often all stray into their own musical lines, before it all comes together again. This would happen repeatedly throughout the night and for many other acts, it may be considered bombastic or over-the-top, but for Living Colour it’s a part of what makes them so special. Despite the apparent chaos and huge sound, they are a unit that after 34 years (except for Wimbish, who joined in 1992) know exactly what each other is doing, bringing it all together into huge choruses.

After all this time, you’d also be excused for thinking that vocalist, Corey Glover, may have lost some of his vocal edge. This could be further from reality. His almost operatic feats in Open Letter (To A Landlord) were proof that, if anything, he’s even better than he was before, performing seamless transitions between powerful verses to athletic falsetto with ease and no obvious faltering. The song itself is a visceral song about protecting neighbourhoods from development, still as relevant 30 years later.

The beauty of an album tour is hearing rarely-played songs. Broken Hearts sat well in the set alongside the final song from Time’s Up, This Is The Life. Type transitioned with fervour into Which Way To America, a song that feels more poignant now than ever. It was at this point we were treated to an extended solo from Wimbish, one that would see magical use of pedals, different playing techniques and styles that have long been his trademark. Calhoun would later, on the drums, be given the same opportunity, providing all percussionists their nerd-out moment. Unfortunately, his decision to include some electronic drums and pads in his solo gave rise to technical issues with the beat cutting out twice. This didn’t stop him performing a mini tribute to Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning on some sort of strange window frame device, encouraging the crowd to yell ‘Give it back!’

The solos really gave a chance for the musicians to shine, but in all honesty it’s probably not required. The performances from Reid, Calhoun and Wimbish are ever-present during any chosen song, particularly with Reid’s faster-than-light fingering on numerous solos during the night. It would be acceptable to forgo the solos for extra tracks perhaps.

As has been a theme on this tour, time was the enemy of the group. Given a midnight curfew, an early start might have been a better idea to fit in all of the extras into a chock-a-block set. As it was, a transition from Cult Of Personality into Time’s Up was all that could be mustered before the plug was pulled. The group stuck around for some on-stage shenanigans, with Glover and Reid showing off their cheeky banter.

In hindsight, perhaps the point of album tour is that the audience want to hear the tracks in order giving you a chance to celebrate it in its entirety. As it was, two tracks were skipped from the album, which is a shame because when else would we get to hear them, if not for the celebration tour? Despite this, the show was huge, yet again proving that they are one of the most under-estimated bands from a period of music over-shadowed by an explosion of personality. Now we all count-down the years till the Time’s Up celebration tour.