After a spellbinding Red Hot Summer performance that many had declared as set of the day at Sandalford’s a mere 24 hours previously, Noiseworks took the two and a half hour journey south to host a side-show at BREC in Bunbury on Sunday night.
Opening the night were Perth indie-rockers 46 Brigade, and it was clearly evident from the crowd’s response that they won over a host of new fans with their 40-minute set of lively & catchy radio-friendly songs. The band are on the verge of releasing their third full length album ‘Jet Black Star’ in April giving them a tasty collection of tracks to pick from.
Kicking their set off with ‘Free Me’, from their 2020 release ‘Into The Great Unknown’ they immediately captured the room with their infectious hooky opener. ‘Paper Plane Messages’ gave fans a taste of what to expect from the new release, with lead vocalist Craig Ballantyne delivering his warm vocals with casual ease. ‘Fall in Line’ rocked things along nicely before the quartet launched into one of my favourites, the fun-filled ‘You Really Pissed Me Off Last Night’, a song that always draws smiles from even the most stubborn of crowds.
Latest single ‘Taking Chances’ gave bass player Duncan MacKintosh the lead vocal role showing the versatility & strength 46 Brigade have as a unit. Another strong track that highlights what the band look forward to deliver to fans very soon. Guitarist Ben Pettit shone brightly throughout, looking to be enjoying every minute in front of a near sold out auditorium. Taking it back to the 2013 debut album ‘Reverse the Future’, the band marched on with the faster ‘Rise Up’ before an live favourite, the immensely catchy ‘Sorry’.
‘New Girl’ is another winner, released last year and had the crowd jumping in their seats. Set closer ‘Raise Your Hands’ really brought home the great job 46 Brigade had made of their support slot, with the Bunbury crowd waving their hands in unison at the command of Ballantyne. “Raise your hands if your looking forward to seeing Noiseworks… Raise your hands if you think we are the best support band you’ve seen!” Huge cheers filled the room and a whole bunch of new fans enlisted. Keep an eye out here at The Rockpit for news about the new album, ‘Jet Black Star’.
Set List: Free Me, Paper Plane Messages, Fall In Line, You Really Pissed Me Off Last Night, Taking Chances, Rise Up, Sorry, New Girl, Raise Your Hands
Noiseworks are always flying high, and judging by the reports from yesterday’s Red Hot Summer they were the band of the day! Tonight, a near full-house poured themselves into Bunbury’s BREC for a Sunday night of rock music of the highest of quality. As the iconic sounds of AC/DC faded Steve Balbi, Kevin Nicol, Tim Henwood and Tony Featherstone entered the stage from all sides with Henwood firing up the riff to ‘Stand Up’, the first of four tracks from the band’s returning 2022 album ‘Evolution’ and the Bunbury crowd went wild as frontman Jon Stevens strode to the mic dressed in black. It’s a belter of an opening tune, and one that had the audience enthralled immediately. It’s hard to believe ‘Touch’ is now 37 years old and is always an early entry in to the set, with Stevens encouraging the lucky front rowers a knuckle touch or handshake. It’s still so fresh each and every night.
‘Burning Feeling’ & Love Somebody’, the opening two tracks from the band’s 1987 debut album continued the trip down memory lane, with Balbi donning a Garry Beers (INXS) bass that he debuted at Red Hot the day before. A new bass guitar must mean new shoes too as his fresh black polished Italian leather footwear glistened in the spotlights. Watching some of the set from the wings, it gave me a chance to watch the wonderful Kev Nicol, who hits a drum as hard as I have seen – mesmerising and precise. Another album opener but this time from ‘Evolution’, ‘Heart & Soul’ received huge airplay when it was released and is a welcomed inclusion into such a dynamic set, showing the new tracks meld perfectly with the older ones.
‘Voice of Reason’ has always been a set favourite and tonight it was once again delivered perfectly, allowing Stevens a moment to show his guitar playing talents, and the audience lapped it up. ‘Simple Man’ allowed the frontman the opportunity to continue with the acoustic but this time joined with some outstanding guitar wizardry from Tim Henwood, who blazed a trail of utter brilliance again tonight. ‘Welcome to the World’ slowed things down just ever so slightly but certainly didn’t ease off the ‘rock’ pedal!
Tearing forward to the present, Tony Featherstone fired up the keys for the start of ‘Sunshine’, the second single from ‘Evolution’, a punchy & vibrant track with a catchy chorus. ‘Love Versus Money’ is an album the spawned a few more bangers with ‘Miles & Miles’ always an aisle filler, the Bunbury faithful didn’t disappoint! One thing I have to say at this point is just how incredible BREC is as a venue, with fabulous staff, a decent vantage point from every area of the room and fabulous acoustics, which highlighted the quality of the music tonight. Continuing on, I always felt ‘Amerika’ would have made a great single release so it’s great to hear it played as a live regular in the Noiseworks (please can we have ‘Low’ added to the next tour, pretty please).
Hitting the home straight, it was just a blur of hits and breathless sing-a-longs starting with ‘No Lies’, a song that I think almost took the roof off tonight as now large pockets of the crowd rose to their feet, arms aloft sensing we were heading for the final hurdles. Jon teased about what was in his beloved tea mug… is it really just tea and honey? One woman shouted out, daring to guess at something stronger and with a large swig, Stevens swung round launching his voice into THAT scream, as the band erupted into ‘Hot Chilli Woman’… and now the roof really did literally lift! Outstanding. After teasing with a few bars of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Dazed & Confused’ the band fired up with ‘Rock n Roll’ giving Balbi & Henwood a chance to flex their own vocal muscles as they were handed individual verses after Stevens had blazed through the start of the 1971 classic.
Encores ensued with the fabulous ‘In My Youth’ the first of two for the grand finale. There can only ever be one true closer and ‘Take Me Back’ will always be that song. As punters flocked to the front a single usher tried to step forward to sway a young man’s decision to head to the pit of the stage. Looking up he saw the throng that followed and after a word of encouragement from the Noiseworks frontman, the usher shrugged his shoulders, smiled and stepped aside. Soon the front of the auditorium was a sea of fans dancing and celebrating another magical night in the presence of true Australian Rock Royalty – Noiseworks, you did it again! With only a few shows to go, grab tickets now while you can and see one of Australia’s great live bands in damn fine form! Dates & link below the gallery.
Set List: Stand Up, Touch, Burning Feeling, Love Somebody, Heart & Soul, Voice of Reason, Simple Man, Welcome to the World, Freedom, Sunshine, Miles & Miles, Amerika, No Lies, Hot Chilli Woman, Rock n Roll
Encores: In My Youth, Take Me Back
With very special thanks to Sas Lyon, Tony Kopa, to Jon & the guys and to the wonderful staff at BREC for your hospitality.
Photos by Sharon Burgess Photography
Thursday 27th March
Village Green Hotel, Mulgrave VIC
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Friday 28th March
The Croxton Bandroom, Thornbury VIC
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