Live Review: Engine Three Seven, Lung, Tell Amarosa, Burn City

Three-piece Burn City experience a few rather unfortunate technical issues during their set, which robs them of much of their momentum, but they deal with it like pros with self-deprecating humour, take it in their stride and ultimately get back on with the job of smashing out their quite-varied take on post-punk and heavy, alternative rock.

There is some rather nice diversity to their sound, their set featuring some stomping mid-paced groovers, moodier, bluesy tunes and a little gnarly, up-tempo punk. They even get sludgy and fuzzy at times when the mood takes them. This band need to work a little more on some of the finer points of their sound and live presentation, and on developing their own, true voice, but provide an entertaining opening set this night nonetheless.

Tell Amarosa possess a big, melodic and heartfelt sound that delights the steadily building Evelyn Hotel crowd. A mellower mid-set number, positioned nicely among the up-tempo anthemic rockers, even gets their fans swaying back and forth with the groove, and provides sweet dynamics to their multi-dimensional set. The musicianship is strong, the vocals very true and the stage presence engaging.

Lung have been quite active during the latter stages of this year and return to the Evelyn Hotel stage this night where they have always reigned supreme with their enormous grooves, huge-but-classy walls of thunderous guitars, dextrous and forceful drumming, and frontman Liam Burke's huge vocals howling over the top. Burke's larrikin personality provides strong between-song entertainment, too. He has apparently been sick for the previous few days, but dosed himself up and no one would have known since his voice is still strong and true. 

Engine Three Seven are a band that had massive momentum behind them going back six or seven years, but the dreaded line-up changes and other factors kicked in and they dropped off the radar a little. Those line-up changes have bitten so deep that only one original member is still in the band: frontman and occasional (acoustic) guitarist Casey Dean. However, apparently rock fans have great memories and recall what a stunning live band they were in those days and many turn up to watch their set.

Are they still just as good? Well, having those songs running through the hands of three completely different players is always going to give them a slightly different feel, but when those songs are so damn good, the voice and personality of the remaining member so captivating and the skill of the newer players so illustrious, the answer is yes. The band still possess that contagious energy and clean, crisp, powerful sound that Engine Three Seven were renowned for and their set this night is an absolute joy, culminating in the joyous crowd participation of Hysterical Hysteria. One can only hope this band joins the likes of Mammal, Superheist, Cog, The Butterfly Effect et al and becomes fully active again.