LUNE – Gig Review 26th February @ Stay Gold, Melbourne VIC
LUNE
Stay Gold, Melbourne, Vic
February 26, 2021
Supports: In Vanity and Wake The Blind
As part of the Melbourne heavy music communities revival, the team over at What We Did On The Weekend has been hard at work putting on shows to bring back that missing piece from our lives: live music. This time, we saw a demonstration of some of Melbourne’s most promising up and comers in the scene. With tickets all sold-out, these bands made a point that it would have to take more than the worlds harshest and longest lockdown to be forgotten about.
I arrived at a half-full (socially distanced) venue just in time to see the opening act In Vanity grace the stage. From the very beginning, I couldn’t take my eyes off the band; their stage presence was incredibly compelling. Before they began playing, they stared off into the crowd with a sense of ‘are you fucking paying attention?’ which, of course, we all were. As they started performing their songs, my focus was directed towards drummer Ollie Midson; his raw talent is captivating, or maybe it was just his face covering that caught my attention; either way, I loved it all. The group introduced us to a new unreleased song while hinting at an upcoming release, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
Next up was nu-metalcore act Wake The Blind, who caught our attention with last year’s release Broken Casket (Revisit our review here). As soon as the band opened up with their track ‘Patient’, it was very clear exactly how blistering talented this group is. I was left standing there with my jaw left on the floor because of guitarist/vocalist Anthony Georgiou‘s flair as a musician; at first, I thought his role in the group was to perform back up vocals while playing the guitar, that is until he dropped his guitar, grabbed the microphone from the mic stand and suddenly turned into a frontman. His ability as a vocalist is outstanding; I simply could not be more impressed by this musician. Finishing off the set with a brand new track which is yet to be released, we got the pleasure of hearing the product of the band’s time in isolation… Spoiler alert; it was brilliant.
Finally, it was time for headline act LUNE to perform. This is a band that I have wanted to see perform since the band came together, but I never got the chance to until now (thanks, COVID). With the band only having a handful of shows under their belt while performing as LUNE, it was hard to believe that this group hadn’t performed for one whole year; their professionalism is outstanding, the way that they play in unison, just like a well-oiled machine truly makes me believe that this band has a bright future. Vocalist Nathaniel Smith is a great mid-range vocalist who puts a lot of emphasis on his deep screams and growls; however, when he performs his high pitched squeals, he struggled with the projection of the sound. Finishing up with a brand new track (yes, that’s three for three), the punters were lucky enough to hear what direction the band are taking their sound to next, and by what I noticed, nobody was disappointed.
I left the venue astonished by the aptitude of every musician that performed. I genuinely believe that the future of Melbourne metalcore/deathcore is looking very bright with acts like these coming through. A big thank you is owed to What We Did On The Weekend; if you see Jase or Burgo around, make sure you buy them a drink!
Gig Review by Adam Rice
