Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 25th January @ The Rosemount Hotel, Perth WA

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Paul 'Browny' Brown

Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes
Rosemount Hotel, Perth WA
January 25th, 2020
Support: Ratking

Starting the night off was local punk lads Ratking. I’ve seen them a couple times over the years but watching them tonight had me wondering why I haven’t seen them more than I have, they’re bloody good and somehow I hadn’t realised this until tonight. There was a sea of bobbleheads in the room so clearly everyone else agreed and one guy was in full dance mode. I purposely didn’t listen to the new cover song they dropped online the other so I could hear it tonight, but their cover of ‘Come Out And Play‘ by The Offspring is really cool. Definitely go give that a listen!

Now from a photographers point of view what happened next was just weird. Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes came on stage, the room is all excited, and the lights are now dark as fuck. It’s incredibly rare that the support act has better lighting than the main band. Don’t even get me started on the photo pit. There was literally no walking space. The barriers were hard against the stage. Not even sure why I tried going in there.

Rant over.

To be fair, I’ve only seen Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes once before back in 2017 and they were so full of energy jumping around the stage and getting down in the pit for a floor show that I left that the venue with a new all time favourite band. I’ve been watching everyone’s gig videos from the past week, seeing the crowds and band looking like they’re having a mental time so I was even more pumped to see them. I’ve been hanging out for this show for 6 months! Tonight’s show seemed off. Hard to pinpoint anything specific but maybe they’re just tired after a week of touring the country. Maybe the stage was too small. Maybe Perth just didn’t deliver again. I always hear about this infamous Frank moshpit headstand, even been seeing Dean getting into the crowd while playing his guitar. None of that. Do Perth people just not get into shows as much as the East Coast? BUT…did I still enjoy the show? Fuck yes I did.

They opened their set with ‘Tyrant Lizard King‘, and 3 songs later Frank is standing on the bar singing ‘Love Games‘. One woman felt the need to hit him while he was up there and he looked far from impressed (last Perth show some guy punched Frank). This was followed up with ‘Anxiety‘ then he joined the rest of the band on stage for ‘Wild Flowers‘ where Frank told the crowd to get ready for the girls only moshpit. It was great seeing him interact with people though on a personal level: he joined the girls on the floor who were all loving their girls-only time, later asked if the guy in the front row was ok to which the reply was “I’m too old for this shit” (moshing is hard work after 40) and some laughs between the two and he got the band to stop playing during ‘Devil Inside Me‘ to see if a guy across the room was ok – now THIS I need to comment on. How much of a fucking legend is Frank Carter that he notices what’s happening from across the room? A lot of bands act oblivious to what’s happening at their feet. A few years back I was watching a Perth band play and myself and another girl were standing directly in front of the bass player and he didn’t say one word to the guy standing behind us screaming abuse or bashing into us because according to him girls shouldn’t be in the moshpit. I left that gig limping, unable to lift my arm and bruised. I wish more bands cared about their fans like Frank does. Total respect.

Once it was clear the guy was ok, the band started the song again and Frank motioned for the crowd to sing but apparently, Perth knows one line of ‘Devil Inside Me‘… because it went dead fucking quiet after that. I felt awkward just being in the room witnessing it. I know the words, I sing them nightly in the shower. Everyone did however know the words to ‘I HATE YOU‘ which came next. This might have been my fav part of the night singing along to this knowing the person I hate the most was also in that room.

For me, it was a fitting way to see Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes off before their epic long haul venture back to the UK (direct from Perth nowadays) and I for one can’t wait for the next trip down, whenever that may be.

Revisit our interview with Frank and Dean while they were in Brisbane right here

Gig Review & Photo Gallery by Kim Anderson. Facebook: Shoot The Wicked Witch Insta: @shootthewickedwitch
Please credit Kim Anderson and Wall of Sound if you repost.

Ratking