Live Review: Violent Soho, Ceres, Trophy Eyes

Walking into the Metro was incredibly exciting. The line outside was filled with people decked out in Violent Soho merchandise, a good omen for the energy of the show.

Trophy Eyes opened and were pretty good, but playing early on a Friday night is a tough gig and they understandably lacked the energy of the next two bands. Ceres followed, also flying the grunge banner high. They produced quite a tight set and are worth looking out for in future.

Neither band, however, compared to Violent Soho, who have had a bumper year, and the anticipation of seeing them was great. They took to the stage and looked exactly as you’d expect: hair flowing down well past their shoulders, T-shirts very baggy and instruments slung so low over their shoulders it made you wonder how they were actually playing them. They opened with Dope Calypso and Lowbrow. The crowd sang along, singing literally every word louder than lead singer Luke Boerdam’s PA could amplify his voice.

They then played Tinderbox and the crowd went wild. There was pushing and shoving, a circle pit opened and suddenly it felt like you were watching a much heavier band. Forget Violent Soho, this was violent George Street, Sydney.

The band played through various older singles, as well as other songs from Hungry Ghost. Highlights included Covered In Chrome and Saramona Said. They finished with a disappointingly lacklustre Jesus Stole My Girlfriend.

Ultimately, this show was excellent. The only couple of (rather trivial) criticisms that could be made were that the set list was definitely constructed in a very strange manner, with too many bigger hits being played way too early, making the performance feel like it lacked a definite peak; and the bassist’s hair windmills went exclusively clockwise. If the band can get on top of these problems, they will be an unstoppable force of the live tour circuit.