Live Review: Monster Magnet, KIng Of The North, Arrowhead

Arrowhead aptly set the tone for the night upon hitting the stage, getting straight into a solid half-hour of doom-laden stoner rock. The most impressionable of the Sydney trio appeared to be sticksman Matt Cramp and his distinctive rolling fills, though that's not to discredit the full sound of those Sabbath-gone -runge riffs.

National supports King Of The North turned out to be the evening's unlikely heroes and undeniably raised the evening's expectations. Much could be attributed to the guitarist/drummer duo's unbridled chemistry – even allowing for Andrew Higgs and Danny Leo to make up the setlist as they went. The pair's monstrous, groove-oriented brand of modern rock involving multi-pedalled layers of sound packed a hell of a punch, and managed to win over the crowd, whose initial attempt at repeating the lyrics, “Get back on your horse and ride” was no less than pathetic. That same audience was left raring for more with tracks like Ride, Surrender and a “dirty song” about a pallid world. Towards the end, it was a question of whether they had time to play another, rather than how much longer until the headliner.

With over two decades under their belt, it's clear that Monster Magnet have the polished psychedelics down pat, complete with hallucinogenic visuals and reverberating echo. The spacey Donovan cover of Three King Fishers was a winner, as was the stomping Look To Your Orb For The Warning. Over the course of the auditory trek, frontman Dave Wyndorf sounded rather shot at times, and spent lengths preening over the electric fan behind him. Fortunately, an about-face in the latter half saw a reclamation of the band's youthful mojo with beefy finale End Of Time, all the way to vintage triple encore of Twin Earth, Powertrip, and, of course, the hard-hitting classic Space Lord, motherfucker!