Bendigo Racecourse is the site for the opening day/night of The Red Hot Summer Series 2 and what an amazing site to hold it on. I have never been here before but will definitely be back. Series two has a line-up that is incredible, it’s diverse with a common thread. This isn’t your usual line up. Adding fresh blood to the Red Hot Summer collective of bands in my eyes is a great thing. Adding an artist from the last decade to open the show is a bold but greatly appreciated move. Opening today is Dallas Frasca. Dallas Frasca is one of those artists that captivated me some eight years ago. Her raw, brass balled spirit and love of the blues, rock and looped guitar parts is undeniable. Her voice is one of a kind and this is my first time seeing her on the big stage. I have seen her a number of times in smaller venues, solo and with a band and most recently as a duo at the Melbourne Guitar Show.
My love for Dallas Frasca comes from her ability to connect a room with her songs and stories delivered with an elegant grit that is uniquely her. Seeing Dallas take to the stage today solo was an experience within itself larger than life on a stage that should have dwarfed her she simply made it hers. By the time she got to her second song Frasca had the crowd engaged and in the palm of her hand. Her guitar playing is something to behold, but it’s her voice that simply roars. Today’s set was a mix of old and new tracks with “River Queen” from last year’s ‘Force Of Nature’ album getting possibly the best reaction from the building crowd.
Set list staple “All My Love” had a sing along and her Led Zeppelin Medley simply dropped jaws. Frasca’s style is all rock n roll with one foot firmly planted in the blues. As a one woman performer Dallas Frasca her voice, guitar work, loops and tracks deliver a set that simply garbs you and refuses to let go. Hearing her voice through a PA of that size is incredible, chilling and all so powerful. What a way to start the day. Whatever you do if you are coming to one of these Red Hot Summer show turn up early and experience one of the greatest female rock n roll voices and performers this country has.
Dallas Frasca Gallery
Rose Tattoo make a surprisingly early appearance today with a mid-afternoon set. All the hits are here as well as the most recent single a cover of Stevie Wright’s “Hard Road”. Angry Anderson is undeniably one of the greatest Australian frontmen in our history. While he has mellowed with age, yet there is an attitude and swagger that can’t be mistaken for anyone else’s. When I say he has mellowed he is still in a class of his own. Today Anderson embodies the spirit of rock n roll and you can see him get lost in the power that this band has musically. He embraces the music, what it stands for and in many ways proves to us that it’s timeless, relevant in its message and that message transcends generations and adapts to modern times. Always outspoken his stage banter is relevant, Guitarists Mick Arnold and Ronnie Simmons are tight as hell, Arnold serious and staunch, delivering a chainsaw esque tone pays ultimate respect to that founding sound of the band that will celebrate 50 years next year. Just let that sink in ….
His slide guitar prowess is next level. Simmons is just the air of life Rose Tattoo needed. He has this incredible aura around him. The ultimate rock n roll guitar hero. I just love watching Simmons play, he is simply the essence of cool. The rhythm section of Steve King and Paul DeMarco are as rigid as hell and serve the swing behind these blues-based boogie anthems that were in full force today. Andersons’s between song banter was direct as ever with quotes like “We are a gender specific band, make no mistake about that” and his call to arms to be mindful of who we select as our country’s leaders. Most of all was his respect for those that had fallen and fought for our country, our veterans and ANZACs.
There is a dry humoured spirit when he isn’t being direct and that I guess in the charm of this guy. I have seen Rose Tattoo many, many times over the last thirty plus years and in my honest opinion this set was Rose Tattoo on the next level. This is easily the best they have sounded in the last decade. Powerful, direct, no bullshit rock n roll anthems delivered perfectly. Perhaps the difference today is that my ears weren’t bleed from the sheer volume of indoor venues. Make no mistake they were loud but it’s safe to say they didn’t haemorage my ears today.
Setlist : Sacred For Life, Rock N Roll Is King, One Of The Boys, Rock N Roll Outlaw, Hard Road, Bad Boy For Love, We Can’t Be Beaten, Nice Boys
Rose Tattoo Gallery
The Baby Animals are always a crowd favourite and no strangers to this format of one day festival or Red Hot Summer Tours. Suze DeMarchi is the definition of pure rock chick, the queen of cool and is hard to look away from. There is a cheekiness to her between song interaction with a fan, which must have made their day. Peering past and raising her sunglasses often to get a good look at the crowd that embraced her and the band there were smiles all set long. DeMarchi’s rhythm playing is on point as always, tight and clean. Today’s set was a little different from the last few times I have seen them, weighted to the first two albums it had fans singing from the start of ”Early Warning” to the chant along goodness of “Ain’t Gonna Get”.
Dave Leslie’s guitar tone and attack is magic to listen to, his sound simply makes those tasty licks, riffs and solos undeniably his and those of The Baby Animals. Without doubt Leslie is one of Australian rock’s finest players and an irreplaceable part of the bands sound. Bassist Dario Bortolin and drummer Ricki Rae truly are the glue that mesh all of the melodic elements of this band together. Songs like “One Too Many”, “Backbone” and “Waste Of Time” just wouldn’t have the kick and groove they do without these two. When you break down the Baby Animals sound the rhythm section are just as crucial as DeMarchi and Leslie, where those two are instantly identifiable as the BA’s sound, Bortolin and Rae are so completely in sync and tune with each other and these songs, it really is a pleasure to watch and hear them do what they do. There was a chemistry and magic between the band today that just electrified the performance. There have been some slight tweaks to the arrangement but all in all The Baby Animals were on fire today.
Having dropped their most recent single, a cover of Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades” just prior to the tour this song was added to the set and the prime opportunity to bring out Chris Chaney from The Living End to play it with them as he features on the recording as well. This is just so much fun. Again another simply outstanding performance for today these first three acts have hit it out of the park so to speak, all exception performances so far.
Setlist : Early Warning, One Too Many, Painless, Break My Heart, One Word, Backbone, Waste Of Time, Rush You, Ain’t Gonna Get, Ace Of Spades.
Baby Animals Gallery
If you were to ask me who have been the most consistent live band in Australia over the last thirty years, my answer to you would and can only be The Living End. They are truly one of the finest and most electrifying Aussie bands ever. There is an energy and level of performance from this band that simply demands you attention. Whether you are seeing them for the first time or for the hundredth time they simply bring their A game each and every time. This afternoon was NO exception, in fact I might have to pick today’s set as one of their finest. With the three artists before them having primed the crowd, The Living End simply ignited them.
The surge of people to the front of stage was incredible and the voice in which the sang along with the bands songs was incredible to be amongst. They danced, sang and had the time of their lives. With eight albums and more than two dozen singles to their name picking an hour-long set must be an absolute nightmare. In this set they delivered everything you could wish for when it comes to pushing a crowd into overdrive. The massive hits were there as well as a couple of gems and a new song to boot. Chaney is vocal about the status of rock n roll in this country. In short he told us all what we already know and feel about it.
This countries artists are getting any of the love and attention they deserve. Mainstream media has chosen to simply turn its back on it and it needs to change. Praising this tour for putting artists that are all still continuing to release new music and are willing to put them infant of big crowds of people his sentiment, thoughts and words I’m sure had an impact. Not one of today’s Australian acts gets the attention, love and respect they deserve when it comes to exposing people to their new music and this needs to change.
With a new album due this year The Living End are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact it’s my hot tip that after thirty-one years the band will be the draw card and headliner for tours like Red Hot Summer in the near future. Regardless of the legacy, stature or iconic nature of whoever has to follow this band they had better be DAMN good. The Living End are a hard act to follow for any artist.
Setlist : Roll On, Second Solution, Pictures In The Mirror, Hey Hey Disbeliever, All Torn Down, Alfie, How Do We Know?, West End Riot, E Boogie, White Noise, Prisoner Of Society.
The Living End Gallery
George Thorogood & The Destroyers, well, this is a man and a band I have been wanting to check off my bucket list live for the longest time. With a song book that bursts with bluesy, dirty anthems and tales. At 72 years of age and this being his final tour he has not let anything slow him down.
Getting to talk with so many people throughout the day, I asked people who they were here to see George Thorogood’s name was the one that came up most and it’s obviously for good reason. Heck I was introduced to a fan who would have been in her late twenties and had seen him twenty-five times already. Mind blown, and parenting done right too. His recent side shows and performance at Bluesfest have all had people raving about him. The bar was set high for tonight’s show, and I can tell you it’s all still there in spades, everything I had read or been told. There is a swagger in the way in which he delivers. A cheekiness and playful side that is simply engaging. George Thorogood is a simply a delight to watch and listen to.
He still has that voice, he still plays guitar like a man possessed. He has all of the hallmarks of one of the all-time greatest blues rock artists of five generations in my lifetime. Watching Thorogood play is incredible that right hand of his and the way he picks is freakishly good. Damn he makes playing this lick so damn easy. His tuning which I can assume are from the playbook of people like Keith Richards are all open tuning variations, this allows him to deliver some amazing playing while adding this massive personality and showmanship to his performance. The band behind him, holy hell they are simply next level, these guys are elite in every way. Buddy Leach’s sax playing is incredible and guitarist Jim Suhler is the perfect partner in crime to Thorogood’s playing.
Bill Blough has one of the greatest bass tones I have heard live and his lines are tight, precise and add so much silk to the sound. Drummer Jeff Simon is effortless in driving this whole thing home. There is that shuffle, swagger and backbone to everything that George Thorogood does. The ten song, sixty-minute affair with Thorogood was an absolute blast, how could you not fall for this guy’s charm, prowess and tales. So many acts have a prepared or scripted banter or introductions to songs, with Thorogoood nothing felt scripted, forced or rehearsed.
Now I’m no fool and know that this most likely isn’t the case but Thorogood does this so well, he engaged with words, interacts with the crowd and has this schoolboy cheeky charm that just grabs hold of you. It’s raw, unfiltered fun at its best. While I am gutted that this is his final tour, I am also so damn glad that I finally got to see him live. To think he has been coming to Australia for over forty-five years, and I have just now discovered him live is something I am grateful for. This set was simply elite in my eyes and a huge box ticked from my bucket list.
Setlist : Rock Party, Who Do You Love?, Mama Mama, I Drink Alone, One Burbon One Scotch One Beer, Cocaine Blues, Twilight Zone, Gear Jammer, Get A Haircut, Bad To The Bone.
George Thorogood & The Destroyers Gallery
ZZ Top are one of those band that I discovered at the height of their commercial peak where they blended blues with a catchy highly produced sound. Yes I’m talking about the early to mid-eighties albums Eliminator and Afterburner albums which spawned them a string of hits that helped shape pop culture and their own legacy. It’s strange discovering a band on the back of their commercial height only to find that they have so much more grit in their back catalogue. The 80-minute set packed to the brim with hit after hit made for a healthy hit of nostalgia. With the band not releasing new music since 2012 this was purely a greatest hits set, and what a set of songs they have. It must be hard to narrow down a fifty-six year into the time they had. The legacy of their songs stands on its own. 
Tonight, it wasn’t ZZ Top as many knew them. Billy Gibbons the bands vocalist- guitarist is the sole original member on this run of shows. Frank Beard has had to sit this tour out due to health matters, filling in for him is his long-time tech John Douglas. Elwood Francis is the bands bass player who has been in the band since the passing of Dusty Hill in 2021. Francis certainly knows how to make an entrance with his seventeen-string bass being used on the first song it’s fun to see how he plays it. Utilising the bottom five and top two stings only as far as I could tell. It’s overkill but fun, but let’s face it ZZ Top have always had that witty, tongue in cheek charm about them. Musically the band are tight and polished. Sonically they are spot on, every guitar sound has been meticulously recreated live and damn they do a fine job of what they do.
It’s that baritone gravel and husk of Gibbons voice that instant sends chills up and down your spine. What a voice. Aside from the polish and familiarity of tones and textures in the songs we all know and love the band are a fairly bland watch, however the songs do make up for it. There is something missing tonight and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not bad missing, it’s more than likely the influence and style that the original members brought to the band. It’s certainly in the vocals, no second voice and a lack of Beards harmonies left it feeling a little cold. Ten years before I had even really heard of ZZ Top they released “La Grange”, a song that just defies time.
There can only be a handful of songs that simply by its intro everyone knows. It took until this song of the night for any real character or personality to be shown by the band. Sure they had the wacky guitars covered in fur, the matching relic’d guitars and guitars with screens in them. While they brought a smile to my face, it just wasn’t enough ZZ Top simply didn’t connect with me like the two artists before them. As a headliner ZZ Top kind of fell short for me. Yes, they were great, the band will always be iconic and hold a special place with me. Hearing the songs was incredible, but they lost the momentum that had lead up to their set. Tonight’s crowd was pumped and primed for something that took things to the next level and sadly it never got there.
Setlist : Got Me Under Pressure, Waiting’ For The Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago, Gimmie All Your Lovin’, I’m Bad I’m Nationwide, My Head’s In Mississippi, Sixteen Tons, Just Got Paid, Sharp Dressed Man, Legs, Brown Sugar, Tube Snake Boogie, La Grange.
ZZ Top Gallery
The Australian contingents of this Red Hot Summer delivered in spades and continued to grow with power as the day went on. Dallas Frasca was the perfect opener, Rose Tattoo built and kept building on the momentum. Baby Animals, what can I say ….. they just keep getting better on these line ups and The Living End are without a doubt the best live band in this country and have been for decades. Seeing them have prime spot on the Aussie part of the bill is so well deserved. George Thorogood, what a performer, guitarist, storyteller and frontman. His set was a blast and over in what seemed a moment. ZZ Top despite only having Billy Gibbons as the only original member were super polished and came armed with a set full of classics delivered exactly as you would expect to hear them.
Today must be the best representation of blues, rock and bar room boogie to be assembled in one place in this country for decades. It’s amazing to see Australian acts stand toe to toe with international giants and hold ground. For me the band of the day was The Living End, but when you think about it with this line up it’s like picking your favourite child. They all hold a special space and that’s what the music of all the artist on display today do for me.
To the team at Face To Face Touring, you delivered in my opinion one of your best shows and line ups. The Bendigo location is amazing, the food vendors, the facilities and Accessibility were all top notch. Thank you for an amazing day of music, community and fun. Adding a new, exceptionally talented, yet relatively unknown artist to open the day is the start of what needs to happen more often. The music industry needs the support of tours and shows like this to spread the word on the absolute treasure trove of incredibly talented bands and solo artists each state in this country has. Please don’t be afraid to do this again, dig deep and put much needed breath back into local, live, emerging talent. Give them the stage and they won’t let you down.
With many thanks to Face to Face Touring & Menard PR
All image credit: Shot by Slaidins Photography
