Live Review: Cash Savage & The Last Drinks, Blake Scott, Spiral Perm

Local three-piece garage-pop group Spiral Perm are first on tonight's bill. Guitarist and lead vocalist Ali Edmonds splits open their set with the opening riff from their latest release, Santa At NASA.

The outfit looks effortlessly cool on stage, with Kate Koomen on drums and Rita Khayat on bass. Edmonds' steady riff in number 24 Sevem gets punters heads moving as the venue slowly starts to fill. She looks down at her set list momentarily, divulging, "I probably shoulda written my set-list in black texter, all I can see are two songs", before taking off again into their next number, Penguin Flaps. The group's consuming riffs and catchy lyrics give them a sort of natural magnetism. As they finish up, crowd members turn to each other and nod. Most of us had not heard of this band before tonight, but we certainly won't be forgetting about them now. 

After a quick break in Melbourne's biting winds, we file back into the steamy Corner basement. The Peep Tempel's frontman and Melbourne-music icon, Blake Scott takes to the stage solo with his guitar. A punter's whistle stirs us into silence. Scott opens with a pensive number, which is gripped by his trademark barbed vocals and lyricism. His songs are delivered with poignant moments of reflection that diverge into venomous rancour. The clenched grip he holds over us is relieved by the humour of his between-song stage presence. He tells us, "It's pretty hot up here. I had to remove my velour, which is a bit fuckin' disappointing... You know, the only real way to be comfortable up here is in velour," before taking a one-eighty on the mood with a track (possibly) called 'Spinal Trauma'. Scott's songs follow landscapes of arid Australian towns that are narrated with hazy irreverence. His lyricism is masterful and affecting, making his musician status almost seem second to his poetry —  which isn't a bad thing when you're one of Australia's most revered artists.

Cash Savage enters on stage alongside The Last Drinks to an enormous cheer. The crowd is packed tightly, as is the stage, with the five-piece taking their positions. They waste no time as they set off with the intense build-ups and collective heaving that is characteristic of this truly powerful outfit. They play a number of tracks from their 2017 LP One Of Us, including Port, which is given new dimension in the live setting. Savage paces around the stage with formidable intensity, delivering her lines with wide eyes and unapologetic potency. Violinist Kat Mear controls the audience's emotions with her bow, marrying the mournful strength of her talent to Savage's lyrics. Crowd favourite and undeniable ballad Rat-a-tat-tat grips punters as guitarists Joe White and Brett Marshall carry us through the hypnotising riffs of this instant classic.

They give glimpses into their forthcoming album Good Citizens, with tracks Pack Animals and Better Than That. Savage takes a moment to tell the audience how much of "a special treat" it is to be playing back in Melbourne at a sold-out show, and that, "We're not doing an encore. We'll keep playing, but we're not doing a fuckin' encore!" They continue on well over time to the captivated audience, wrapping things up with cathartic and resonating track Let Go, an ideal way to finish what has been a night of poignant contemplation delivered by some of Australia's finest.