Live Review: Grinspoon, Kingswood & Emperors

As the drinks begin to flow and the Tivoli inexplicably heats up to sweat box temperatures there's a pervasive excitement to see what Oz rock stalwarts Grinspoon can do with album number seven live. As punters shuffle to and from the bar, Perth four-piece Emperors transport the crowd back to the glory days of Australian alternative rock. With a sound rooted in the late '90s, immediately relatable for an audience who grew up listening to the Js when it was actually good, the band's cuts are met with considerable appreciation.

Melbourne's Kingswood do their thing next. With swagger and a driving rhythm section, the band capture the crowd's imagination. Rock'n'roll played with a tip of the hat to the stadium sound of the 1970s, Kingswood manage to get a room of heads nodding, and even a person here or there moving around.

It's a real testament to Grinspoon's staying power that tonight they can sell out The Tivoli, and have everyone in the room eagerly anticipating the commencement of their set. Never mind the fact that everybody in the room's probably already seen these guys countless times before; there's a real buzz on the Tiv's floor. To acknowledge the presence of these long time fans, Grinners have catered a set to rely strongly on some of the rarely played classics from deep within the band's back catalogue. Kicking things off with a rousing edition of Black Friday from the 1998 EP Pushing Buttons, the band manoeuvre through the songs that you've wanted to hear them play live for ages.

The success of these back catalogue cuts makes the difference between the Black Rabbits material all the more stark; there's a noticeable lack of animation when Grinspoon hit the new material. Even though the crowd is incredibly supportive of cuts like Passerby, it feels like the band struggles to sell the material. Sure, frontman Phil Jamieson is anchored by a guitar for the new stuff, and they could probably play songs like Champion in their sleep with their hands tied behind their backs, but it doesn't feel like Grinners are really behind their new material. Historically, when they're touring a new album Grinspoon offer up plenty of the new, but tonight they keep working through oft-forgotten gems like Freezer and Bad Funk Stripe instead of the Black Rabbits' material. Which is great for long time fans, who delight in those moments of realisation, several bars into efforts like Post Enebriated Anxiety and Gone Tomorrow, where it's like, 'Shit! I did not think they would play this'. Whatever the reasons behind their unexpected nostalgic turn, the end result is something that keeps an entire room of Oz rock fans very happy.