Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Rough Trade NYC, Brooklyn, New York – Review by Killian Laher
There’s quite a buzz around Australian band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Due in Ireland in August, they rounded off their US tour by playing 2 shows on the same day in Rough Trade NYC.
For the early show, The Britanys played support. Sounding like the US answer to the Arctic Monkeys (a question I’m not sure was asked), they overcame the lead singer’s struggle with staying in tune to play an amiable brand of indie rock. They won’t change the world but have a particularly energetic guitarist who will win them a few friends.
With no less than three guitarists, all of whom take turns in singing, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever are quite a sight to behold in full flow. Barrelling through Clean Slate and Talking Straight, one of the guitarists had to make two changes of guitar for technical reasons. This didn’t prove any sort of barrier – their powerful guitar pop provided plenty of highs on the likes of Julie’s Place and An Air Conditioned Man, the latter off forthcoming album Hope Downs.
The band seem to channel something of the feeling of early Franz Ferdinand, as well as a definite Go-Betweens influence. Put simply: they are melodic and… fun. French Press is one of their best songs and it proved that way here. Acting as the set’s conclusion, before an encore of Colours Run, the guitar solos soared and had the audience dancing and bobbing heads furiously.
Whelans will be the place to be in August, by then the album will be out and I expect the venue to be stuffed!
Setlist
Clean Slate
Talking Straight
Julie’s Place
Bellarine
Wither With You
Sick Bug
An Air Conditioned Man
Time in Common
Mainland
Fountain of Good Fortune
French Press
Encore:
Colours Run
Categories: Gig Reviews, Gigs, Header, Music
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