LIVE REVIEW: Pop Evil - Melbourne, April 5th 2019

With their collective feet planted firmly in the roots of modern rock and metal, Pop Evil delivered the larger than at least I anticipated crowd at the Prince Bandroom an ass kicking, on this their first visit to Australia.

This was one of those nights were it was obvious both band and crowd were stalking their prey early on, just not quite sure what the other was going to deliver. Pop Evil launched their set with the scorching hard rock anthem Boss’s Daughter off their 2011 War Of Angels release, with the crowd shouting word for word of the chorus right back at them. Perhaps not quite what that band was expecting straight up, with frontman Leigh Kakaty declaring very early on Melbourne has been his favourite Aussie city of the tour so far. Despite them only playing Adelaide the night before, he’s obviously a good judge of character all the same!

With a thumping bottom end courtesy of the energetic bass player Matt DiRito, Deal With The Devil got the crowd jumping with fists in the air, the pulsating beat seeing the band morph this one into Drowning Pool’s Bodies. With the musical intensity dropping for the soaring demi-ballad Torn To Pieces, the intensity of the crowd sure didn’t drop, once again singing back word for word virtually every lyric of this song. Four songs into the set and it was confirmed, their were indeed a whole bunch of Pop Evil fans in the Prince Bandroom tonight.

With both and crowd feeding off each other’s energy, Last Man Standing kicked things into top gear, with the stadium sized chorus being matched with guitarists Dave Grahs and Nick Fuelling trading blistering licks from either side of the stage. With Kakaty asking if there’s any “80s rockers in the house…?”, you betcha we were ready for a breakdown heading into Eye Of The Tiger and some powerhouse drumming from Hayley Cramer, the bands most recent member.

With a slew of charting hits back home in the USA, tonight’s set covered all eras of the bands 15+ years, with the crowd equally knowing whatever Pop Evil threw at them. Latest single Be Legendary off their 2018 self titled album was a highlight for me with its positive lyrical message, while 100 In A 55 as the first encore song, took things way, way back to 2008.

Pop Evil are not afraid to build their fan base, one evil at a time and on the strength of performances like tonight and recent songs such as Waking Lions, you get the sense that after over 15 years on the circuit, things might be about to take off for the band.

Kudos once again to Silverback Touring for having the balls to bring out a band like Pop Evil to Australia and making rock n roll dreams come true. For Kakaty and his band, after years of wondering, they go to finally see what the faces of an Aussie crowd look like. And for their no doubt soon to be growing Aussie fans, they got to experience something they’d probably given up hope of experiencing, the chance to rock with one of America’s leading purveyors of anthemic modern rock.

Yes, we were here to see them first, next time around, don’t expect to see these guys in such an intimate venue such as the Prince Bandroom. Great sets tonight also from Warbirds and Bad Moon Born who are no strangers to the pages of The Rockpit. With both bands debut new singles tonight, expect plenty more performances from both bands in 2019. Local Melbourne’ites Figures brought their 7string guitar and 5string bass fuelled metal and my tip for these guys and gal is Download Festival 2020, maybe joining Pop Evil perhaps?

Sydney siders, it’s your turn for Pop Evil tonight, don’t miss this band, with stadium sized songs and an electrifying performance to match!

PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Scott Smith: Lens Of Rock