Last DinosaursFew things will coax people out of the warmth of their homes and away from their Netflix on a cold winter’s night, but the Last Dinosaurs gig at Jive managed to pull a fair amount of early-birds ready to settle in for a night of grooving.
Locals It’s A Hoax graced the stage first with a nonchalant air and a relatively laid-back set that eased the chill in the atmosphere and captured the crowd’s attention.
Anyone who is a sucker for absolutely bone-chilling violin seriously needs to check out I Know Leopard, who brought an eclectic mix of sounds to the stage that seemed to mesmerise everyone in the room. An endlessly cool cover of TLC’s Waterfalls made for phones raised high in record-mode and self-proclaimed ‘90s kids singing their little hearts out.
Brisbane-bred Last Dinosaurs capture everything that’s beautiful about vaguely tribal drums and jangly guitars. As the band opened with Weekend, the crowd seemed to blur into a single mass of bodies surging forward with the anticipation of a person with a serious itch about to be scratched. Humbly acknowledging their long-overdue presence in Adelaide and expressing a genuinely overwhelmed thanks to the sold-out crowd, the band played with an energy that ping-ponged between the stage and the audience. That energy rose exponentially right from the get-go, as the Dinos gave it their all. They pumped out a cover of ‘80s classic Poison Arrow and gave release to the crowd’s uncontrollable glee as they launched into old favourite, Honolulu.
The set heightened with new single, Evie, and indie banger, Zoom, the crowd turning into a mess of bobbing heads, precariously-perched shoulder rides and stage invaders. An almost desperate cry for an encore drew the band back for Andy, lead singer Sean Caskey launching himself into the crowd while somehow still playing guitar and oozing coolness.
There’s a sure difference between a band that plays good music and a band that plays good live music. It’s been a long time since Adelaide has seen an indie-rock band with the gusto and talent worthy of an uncontrollably excited crowd response. Last Dinosaurs are the rare band that knows just how to scratch our itch. Let’s just hope they don’t leave it two and a half years too long before scratching it next time.
