BABY ANIMALS

THE CHARLES HOTEL, PERTH

23RD MARCH 2012

 

 

 

 

 

The Charles Hotel is packed to bursting point tonight in anticipation for what everyone is hoping will be a blistering hometown return for The Baby Animals. I must admit to being a little on edge in the lead up as only a few days previously they had pulled out of a Melbourne date due to Suzi losing her voice. The great news is that tonight Suzi and the band sound wonderful.

 

 

 

Seeing the band last time they were in Perth at the Kings Park Gardens as support for INXS and Train, it great now to get a chance to see them up close and personal at one of Perth’s best-sounding venues.  Indeed tonight is just one of those nights where everything seems to line up, and the band, the audience, the venue and the promoter all walk away happy!

 

 

 

 

 
As far as the music goes sadly we miss the opening act but it’s great to see The Chevelles pumping out a bit of classy home-grown power-pop-rock before the big one. They put on a great show, which with years of material to draw upon, means they can’t put a foot wrong.

 

 

 

Of course the main draw is The Baby Animals, who have a different bassist in tow since last tie we saw them. However it’s the ever solid David Leslie on guitar who takes the stage first followed by the rest of the band.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the great things about baby Animals is the strength of their catalogue and even though the hits that peppered the first two releases are still strongest in most people’s minds, the newer material bears up to scrutiny too.

 

 

 

In a setlist like tonight’s its pretty hard to pick a favourite though of course songs like ‘Early Warning’; ‘Painless’; ‘One Word’ and ‘One Too Many’ are pretty hard to beat and performed flawlessly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Baby Animals may be down two original members now, but you get a feeling that you will be hearing more from them in the coming years. The fact that DeMarchi looks like she’s barely aged since the early nineties can’t hurt at all. And the strength of the newer songs proves there’s still gas in the tank.

 

 

 

A powerfully, tight performance full of good old rock and roll.

 

 

 

 

By Mark Diggins