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CITY CALM DOWN @ The Rosemount gets 8/10


City Calm Down @ The Rosemount Hotel
w/ Flossy, Noah Dillon
Friday, October 18, 2019

8/10

As the noise settled, each of the band’s members headed down to the front of stage to take one last bow, and with it, they drew to a close their current chapter. If they didn’t before, City Calm Down now realise how much they will be missed.

Opening their (foreseeably) final show, Noah Dillon and his band set the mood for the night with their fun-spirited ways. Dillion was in terrific form, freely engaging with the audience between songs; dedicating fan-favourite Jersey Street to his grandma, while he declared that the driven pop of Maggots is a song about “living in a share house, coming out, seeing maggots everywhere and going ‘who the fuck left the cheese out again?'” Last song, Disappear, was a pogoing, lively number with its punkish, Green Day-like Nimrod-era verses.

Next up were the sister-led Flossy, who wasted no time in getting the crowd bouncing along to their catchy and infectious riot grrrl meets Elastica guitar pop. Set opener Holiday was a solid stand out, as was the punky Car Song, while the lush vibes of We’re Better off Friends demonstrated the band’s melodic sensibilities. They also premiered new song, Carry On, before rounding out their set with recent single Being Alone, which had the crowd enthusiastically clapping along, and finished on the rocking Bad Thing.

City Calm Down

With the Rosemount now reaching capacity and the audience’s anticipation palpable, City Calm Down‘s arrival on stage was greeted with a rapturous response. Having just announced that this tour will be the last for the foreseeable future, the crowd was determined to make the most of their last opportunity to catch one of Australia’s brightest indie lights of the past decade, and were instantly rewarded as the band launched with recent album opener, Television, before segueing into the new-wave moodiness of Rabbit Run and the emotive Blood.

The band faultlessly guided their way through an even spread of songs from their releases, with frontman Jack Bourke making use of the Rosemount’s recent renovations; gripping the exposed pipes to extend himself out into the adoring crowd.

City Calm Down

Pride was the biggest turning point in the set, taking all and sundry to the next level with its pulsing rhythm session and sing-along choruses, before finishing with the knock out one-two of the U2-esque Visions of Graceland and the massive In This Modern Land.

MICHAEL HOLLICK

Photos by Daniel Hilderbrand

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