Intentional Groupie Action

The Basics
The Hopetoun
Tuesday 3rd April

With a supporting act like The Saturns it’s very hard not to be upstaged. They have all the right moves for an emerging rock band and have a pretty faithful following, including the main act that will be playing with them at least twice, over the next month, during their tri-state marathon. Fronted by Danny Holdsworth, The Saturns gave a performance that is full of frenetic energy that infected the crowd. With some of their influences being more visible than others, it was made easy for the newcomers who had never seen these local boys before, to enjoy the 60s to today inspired rock and roll sounds until their all too short set came to an end in a demonstration of pure rock star moves by the entire band. Think Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Beck.

After a brief interval and set up, The Basics took command of the stage with the opener ‘Rattle my Chain’ from their upcoming, second album ‘Stand Out/Fit In’, (out 5th May). A stream of new and old songs followed including a few covers thrown in for good measure, all received with equal cheering and roars from the gathered fans. A bit of banter between bass player, Kris Schroeder and drummer, Wally deBacker resulted in a request from the crowd being honoured. They joked that this was the last time this particular song was being played; but then said ‘a request is always performed.’ Who would have dreamed of hearing ‘The Right Stuff’ by New Kids on the Block played in a pub in Sydney by a band from Melbourne dressed like the Beatles?
That said, it received one of the biggest cheers of the evening. Three encores and 80 minutes later the Basics left the stage to ‘Money, That’s What I Want,’ by Barrett Strong (but covered by The Beatles in the 60s) and a promise to ‘see you all next week’.

You can count me in and judging for the reaction from the rest of the room, you can count in everyone else too!

(343 words)

I sent this review to The Brag today in the hope of publication, but we’ll see. I wanted to say that I stood and watched Wally with the eyes of a true groupie and only just noticed the others playing. He’s had his hair cut since I last saw him.