Eagles of Death Metal – Gig Review 29th March @ Fremantle Metropolis, WA

Rock and roll; Tuesday night; Perth – it’s that simple, no ‘complexity’. Californian rock band Eagles of Death Metal (EODM) have been tearing up Australian shores, having played Bluesfest before continuing their wave of riffs in Fremantle.

Given recent global events, the security at the venue was carried out with understandable seriousness, consisting of full-body pad-downs and bag-checks and heavy presence of security throughout the evening; no pass outs.

All the Colours were honoured to be the national support for EODM and were a great fit for the spot. Playing to an already half-filled venue, the Victorians steadily warmed up their instruments before rocking out for a decent forty-five minutes.

The trio truly exemplified rock and roll as they immersed into the music of every one of their songs, with bassist Josh Moriarty head-banging with luscious hair covering his face and the leather jackets swarming the stage. Joshua Mann gave it 120% on the vocals, showing extreme range and consistently holding his notes. The crowd genuinely enjoyed the strong aesthetics of All the Colours, which included an AC/DC & Big Joe Williams cover of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’.

The balcony opened and punters poured through the venue, leaving the atmosphere shoulder-to-shoulder in anticipation for the main event. In what seemed like assurance that everyone had arrived and wouldn’t miss out on any of the action, EODM launched on stage about half an hour late at 10.30, with big smiles on their faces. The immensely charismatic front man Jesse Hughes waved at every corner of the crowd with his ginger moustache quivering with excitement.

The band jumped straight into ‘I Only Want You’, the first banger of many for the night, this one from their 2004 breakthrough record ‘Peace Love Death Metal’. The track was backed by two identical and symmetrical posters of the band’s adaptation for Uncle Sam’s iconic ‘I Want You’ imagery.

Hughes’ girlfriend Tuesday Cross jumped in on keys early in the set, and then Perth got treated to a very special moment. Hughes invited Cross to the front of the stage where one might assume he wanted to give her some recognition to the crowd. But in fact, his suspenders almost fell off his shoulders in anticipation as he abruptly said “let’s get this over with”, got on one knee centre stage, looked at Cross and asked “Tuesday, will you marry me?” – upon which his fiancé quickly accepted and the engaged couple shared a quick smooch.

The vocalist clarified to the band that he respects the perfection of the setlist but given the moment, he needed to mix things up a notch and so they fast-tracked ‘Whorehoppin’ (Shit, Goddam)’ whereby Hughes belted out the lyrics “shit goddamn, I’m a man” repeatedly.

The live band complemented Hughes like spaghetti and bolognaise with hilarious banter throughout the night. A lot of love was expressed between one another and the crowd, with a strangely repeated sharing of hats between punters and band-members. Hughes’ energetic charm was like no other, constantly expressing appreciation for the crowd’s presence.

 

EODM played a great mix of their back catalogue including the best tracks from their latest album ‘Zipper Down’ which came off incredibly well; these included: ‘I Love You all The Time’, ‘Complexity’, and ‘Silverlake’. Hughes had an amusing ability to segue way conversation with the band and crowd into each of the tracks they had planned on playing. Perth were treated to a number of covers as well, including Rolling Stones’ ‘Brown Sugar’, Duran Duran’s ‘Save a Prayer’ and their own studio album version of ‘Stuck in the [Metal]’ – the crowd went berserk.

Around the middle of the show Hughes mildly addressed the November Paris incident telling the crowd ‘it’s been the weirdest few months of life’ – upon which the crowd roared back with support. His emphasis was around rock and roll, and how nothing will ever stop the energy that is created by rock and roll.

The front man explained how he spent the afternoon at the well-known arcade next door called Timezone, visited Bon Scott’s grave and then consequently expressed his dissatisfaction to Axl Rose’s involvement in future AC/DC shows, leading to boo’s from the patriotic crowd.

EODM played a massive encore in various stages. Hughes came on stage and played solo for the crowd and was clearly stuck in the moment as he eventually invited the band back onstage. Punters danced, bobbed up and down, and sweated one last time to tracks like ‘I Want You So Hard (Boys Bad News)’ and ‘Speaking in Tongues’.

Leaving the venue after midnight, punters were drenched in excitement, oh and their own sweat. When one takes into account what the band has undergone recently, the contagious euphoria of their show was even more incredible to experience; bravo Eagles of Death Metal.

Ricky Aarons (https://twitter.com/rickysaul90)

Photos by Kim Anderson: http://wallofsound.org/tag/kim-anderson/

Eagles of Death Metal – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eaglesofdeathmetal/

Eagles of Death Metal – Twitter: https://twitter.com/EODMofficial

All the Colours – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Allthecolours/