Live Review: The Brand New Heavies

For their first gig in Australia in a long time, The Brand New Heavies certainly pulled a solid crowd into The Metro Theatre. The venue was packed with fans who seemed so excited to have left the kids at home to get their groove on to a band that took them back to their youth, jiggling around to the funk and soul tracks of the warm-up DJ and wrestling to get a good position.

The very dapper-looking backing musicians walked onto the stage, taking their positions behind their various instruments before bass player Andrew Levy and guitarist Simon Bartholomew swaggered on in a shimmer of gold sequined jackets and sunglasses, looking every bit the part. A roar rippled through the crowd as singer N'Dea Davenport took to the stage in a smart suit, sunglasses and black top hat, getting straight into hit, Brother Sister, albeit with a slight microphone malfunction for the first few lines.

Davenport's presence and moves on stage were as powerful as her voice, which has lost none of its feistiness over the years. A string of hits, including Dream On Dreamer, Midnight At The Oasis and Sometimes, got the already excited crowd dancing harder. The band's years of playing these numbers really showed with every track sounding impeccably polished and flowing seamlessly from one to the next.

A couple of tracks from the band's forthcoming new album made their first outing, but the limelight was somewhat stolen by Bartholomew stripping down to his waistcoat, running up to the crowd and rocking out swinging his long hair, looking something more like a '70s porn star than a guitar player.

An epic instrumental with a solo from each band member, from saxophonist to keyboardist, allowing each of them their chance to shine, merged well into hit You Are The Universe to finish the set before the band retired from the stage.

The encore finished in a big singalong for Dream Come True before the band took a well-deserved bow and reluctantly left the stage. So great to see such a talented bunch of musicians rocking The Metro Theatre.