Live Review: Citizen, Postblue, Perspectives, Dear Seattle

With a wild east coast low still lingering around Sydney, Dear Seattle’s melodic hardcore seemed an appropriate start. Playing to a relatively small all-ages crowd in very early to see them, the Northern Beaches boys ran through a tight if slightly derivative set. New tunes like Momentarily are nonetheless nice future pointers.

Perspectives were on next. Singer Rob Scamarcia was arresting, with a delivery akin to Touche Amore’s Jeremy Bolm. Scamarcia and band particularly shone on their biggest cuts, like an impassioned Oceans or the dramatic, ascending Blind. Drummer Jonno Dolan turned in some great work, as did a bunch of hardcore fans screaming lyrics back at the band.

Some Poison City fans were in for Postblue, and they didn’t disappoint. Opening with the brilliant Ugly, their more oblique voicings seemed to catch a majority underage crowd offside. That loud indifference was an asset though, channelling all post-Dinosaur Jr acts and drowning some choice melodies in choleric noise. I Hope They’re Praying For Me is a record to pick up.

Citizen are one of the standouts on a strong Run For Cover roster. Opener, The Summer had the crowd going mental and was soon followed by Figure You Out. Early on the vocals were mixed too low, a pummelling rhythm section and uncontained feedback swallowing some better moments. But punters didn’t care, belting out even deep cuts from Youth and riding the wave of the band’s first Australian tour.

It was singer Mat Kerekes’ birthday, and Postblue took to the stage again to sing Happy Birthday. Thereafter, Kerekes played in a Birthday Boy shirt. It was nice, and a real treat. He turned in a great performance too.

After standout, The Night I Drove Alone, crowd and band were equally appreciative – the net result of escalating positive vibes between each other. Strict venue measures put a little dampener on the evening, but they all crowdsurfed anyway.