Against The Current – Gig Review 3rd October @ Jive, Adelaide SA

Against The Current

Jive, Adelaide SA
Tuesday 3rd October 2023
Support: Days Like These and LOLA

“The more avenues to reach the audience, the better it is.” Award winning Indian actor Mohnish Bahl.

It is truly miraculous how the avenues of sharing art of any expression have changed with the evolution of technology. In the universe of music, the progression from live performance, to vinyl, to radio play, to soundtrack, to film clips, to cassettes, CDs, minidisc, MP3, platform crossovers (such as videogames) and then streaming and social media have been advancements that are nearly incomprehensible to properly process. Astonishingly, this plethora of "avenues" have enabled musicians to launch their art to aficionados in locations of the world thought never possible, and the headline act of this event has navigated these pathways monumentally.

New York’s Against The Current are not only an outfit who have experienced and utilised the majority of these avenues, in some fields they could be considered experts. The pop rock trio (touring quartet) employed the use of the YouTube website phenomena to distribute their talents and impressively acquire millions of views and consequently subscribers via their cover song interpretations and obvious boundless talent. Understandably, the industry came knocking.

On this night, the four-piece from The Queen City of the Hudson were in Adelaide to employ arguably the most powerful showcasing of music – live performance; and a sold out crowd were ready for the oncoming ‘Wildfire’.

Although System Of A Down’s bassist Shavo Odadjian is from a rather different soundscape, his statement: “To me, punk rock isn't a style of music, it's something you live.” should be on LOLA’s merchandise (impressively there was already a hat available simply saying: “Fuck It”). The local punk quartet know how to instigate rowdiness. Imagine the progeny of Pennywise, Green Day and Good Riddance, fronted by Craig Nicholls in 2002 and this almost characterises LOLA – but this is punk, so a few curveballs are more than necessary. ‘What’s The Point’ stirred the pot of a Frenzal Rhomb and early Bodyjar stew while also stirring the crowd in all the right ways (extra heat was administered by the earth moving drumming of Mitchell Seager). Single ‘Billionaire’ was more delightful than Dune Rats covering Mach Pelican, ‘Game Over’ and ‘Drying Out’ would have had Guttermouth give out their ‘Scholarship In Punk’. The hilarity of vocalist and guitarist Billy Burns’ between song banter was one to marvel at; amazingly awkward, the jokester even proclaimed he would be doing a comedy set next door which is more a possibility than a pleasantry in honesty. The band then enforced a cheery crowd-sway with their CowPunk single ‘Black Lung’. Appropriately in attitude, the Adelaideans concluded with ‘Fuck It’ to inspire their onlookers to rebel and live up to their punk outlook. Watch this space – this chorus will be a proclamation soon thanks to LOLA.

With musical expansion comes experimentation; the fusing of genres to invent new sound identities is a magical part of the artform. Queensland’s Days Like These embrace this methodology to rather eclectic wavelengths. The single ‘Foolish’ echoed Justin Timberlake’s pop genius with the more recent explorations of Emarosa’s progressive 80s funk; as odd as this explanation is depicted, it is quite remarkable, especially how vocalist Callen Batson delivers this upbeat obscurity. ‘Embrace You’ was a rockier number that Waterparks would have been very impressed by and then ‘Luna’ astoundingly merged Mike Posner and Set It Off.
‘Oblivion’ thankfully stepped up the heavy into From Ashes To New territories, a mosh-pit ensued thanks to the trancecore vibe that Oli Sykes would have probably happy-cried some ‘Teardrops’. A cover of ‘King For A Day’ was delivered in a royal and great fashion then to close the single ‘Icon’; this track could cause Adam Levine to hopefully realise how fast he is becoming irrelevant (in the realm of how his talent can be and is outshined). The adored British conductor Leopold Stokowski once said "A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence." This feels like the approach Days Like These undertake with their creativity and that is one to admire.

If Christina Nicola Costanza, better known as Chrissy Costanza was to adopt an extra “nickname” for her middle name, she should highly consider “Catalyst”. Understandably it is not the most elegant title, but it is what her persona encompasses wholeheartedly. When performing, Ms Costanza is the catalyst for positivity, for inspiration, for passion, for delight, for integrity, for unity and she does it illustriously for those who will listen and watch her in the number one avenue of musical exhibition – playing live.
Instantly Chrissy wiled up the capacity audience when she stormed onto the stage, as she has done countless times and was clearly destined to do. Against The Current then launched into ‘Good Guy’ – a track that is somewhat attached to the theme of heartbreak, but in the live music setting is the “middle finger” to that negativity and a power up to resilience. ‘Wildfire’ had that (aforementioned) “inspiration” motif that should see it be played during the Superbowl, preferably by the four-piece themselves during the half time show. ‘Again & Again’ expressed vulnerability, however we have all experienced this and ATC unified Jive to be stronger together when facing these diffficult times.

‘Jump’ emanated the force of a Shirley Manson and Hayley Williams duet, then ‘Strangers Again’ slowed everything down to a breathtaking synth-ballad that belongs in the soundtrack of the next Academy award winning dramedy indie film.
‘Running With The Wild Things’ matched what The Cardigans captivatingly accomplished and impossibly ‘Silent Stranger’ became the anthem of insecurity on the other end of the spectrum. However, the negativity of that affliction needed to be forgotten; this is where Chrissy Costanza shines, in instructing us that we all feel that way and that music can help us rise above it.
‘Lullaby’ and ‘Paralyzed’ are the songs Kelly Clarkson wish she wrote, both in envy and admiration. ‘Another You Another Way’ achieved the same status, but for Carly Rae Jepsen, and in an extremely exquisite manner.
‘Roses’ may well have provoked Jared Leto to do a cover version of the song just as he did for Björk’s ‘Hunter’ (yes, the performance was that uplifiting), where ‘Voices’ flipped the script flawlessly as if Lauren Mayberry had collaborated with Lovejoy.
Is it only a matter of time until the producers of Frozen plead for ‘Gravity’ to be on the next soundtrack? If the readers are not quite understanding the luminosity of ATC yet, hopefully that last question will translate the band's delightful distinction better.

An encore of the smash hit ‘Legends Never Die’ unveiled the true authority of Against The Current, in a packed venue it was majestically silent as the New Yorkers proved that in any live music platform, they are a stadium outfit and they are accomplishing this independently now. Fantastically ‘Weapon’ concluded this sensational spectacle, because that title is what Against The Current are, and that is a catalyst for “integrity”.

Gig Review by Will Oakeshott. Insta: @teenwolfwill