Live Review: Safia, Boo Seeka, Owen Rabbit

Not a lot of things are cooler than hanging out in a dark room filled with fake smoke, strobe lights and more bass than you can poke a stick at. Canberra three-piece Safia moved into Adelaide on Friday night, with a show that proved that they plan on sticking around for a long time. 

Everything cool about live music production was encompassed by Owen Rabbit, who managed to draw a fairly sizable crowd for so early on in the evening. It's tough to get a unique sound in the electronic genres but he managed pretty well.

Boo Seeka floated on stage in an whirlwind of groovy beats that filled every single corner of the room. Deception Bay was met with Snapchat record screens and voices raised high, their surprisingly well-balanced mixture of electric guitar and smooth synthetic sounds translating well to the live setting. A nice rendition of Kingdom Leader drew the band all the attention and praise they deserve.

Eerie ticking clock sounds rang out through the dark room, building the energy until it burst as Safia graced the stage and launched into Counting Sheep. The bass — oh lord the bass — pumped through every limb as the flashy light show invaded everyone's senses. The mixture of sensations left the audience vulnerable and eating out of the palm of lead singer Ben Woolner's hand.

He explored the wonders of the male falsetto and tested the power he had over the audience, demanding they jump at almost every opportunity. Their signature remix of The Aston Shuffle's Tear It Down was met with spilled drinks and itching feet.  

Playing several new songs from their upcoming debut album, Safia's production quality is so high that it translates flawlessly from recording to live show. The crowd was transformed into nothing more than a mass of writhing bodies, the pulses matching every beat with clock-like precision. Take Me Over began in darkness with that damn intro capturing everyone's attention straight away. Say what you will, but nothing beats a really fucking good bass drop. 

Old favourites Listen To Soul, Listen To Blues and You Are The One were interspersed throughout the new stuff, garnering a surprisingly high number of singalongs for a band still relatively new to the scene. The vibe instantly transformed to one filled with love as the band began their encore with Embracing Me before whipping out old favourite Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds.

It really says something of a band's performance repertoire when they pull off a pretty much flawless live show. Safia, you totally nailed it.