The Rosemount Hotel
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Though it may sound like a night of comic strip shenanigans, the speakers were the ones doing the thwacking during this raucous night of Boom! Bap! Pow!’s latest album launch.
Dux N Downtown started the night with a bang through their harmonica soaked, toe tapping, bluesy set. The initial vocalist had a gorgeous smooth sound with intoxicating low vocals, while the second had an equally stunning gravel of short, sharp bursts. The rocker bellowed ‘Motherfucker stole my shit!’ between guitar wails, reminiscent of Seasick Steve.
Energetic, groovy blues band Huge Magnet belted out the interesting cover song choice Son of A Preacher Man, which soon showed itself to be a comical Hits From The Bong mash up, loosening up the audience for a night of light hearted entertainment. But the biggest crowd pleaser of all was their fast, fun, upbeat swing song to finish, which saw several pumped-up punters spinning around the dance floor.
Drawing the crowd in with fast drumstick tapping, followed by perfectly delivered snare rolls, The Love Junkies then released some alluringly grungy vocals. The third three-piece band for the night, but somehow twice as loud and forceful as the others, these kids threw down the gauntlet with their devil may care, rocking set. Perfectly timed changes in tempo kept the crowd on its toes as did some fantastic, intricate jazz drumming, mixed with loud rocking crashes, and a few Hendrix-esque guitar moments. Despite an unfortunate technical difficulty with the drum kit, the band soldiered through their recent release, Baby Come Home, still managing to wow the crowd. The boys really gave it everything in their final song of the night, cementing their rock solid performance.
The Rosemount was now packed to the gills with fans eager to see the band of the night, the delightfully dubbed, Boom! Bap! Pow! Thunderous, powerhouse vocals with delicious and often hooky lyrics chimed in after an excitement building instrumental intro. But these brilliant vocals weren’t the only thing enticing the audience, with the bubbly singer throwing in some fun and feisty dance moves, especially letting loose once she whipped out the tambourine. With a huge range of big band, soul, swing, pop, and even some hang 10 surf’s up sounds, this playful bunch pulled no punches, slamming out a massively high energy set. When The Kinks cover song, All Day And All Of The Night, started, several excited fans literally began dancing on the tabletops. These seasoned professionals sure knew how to work it, and the lead singer showed great showmanship when she jumped onto the dance floor and engaged the audience. After a brief fake out ending, the lively group returned to the stage for one final song. After inviting the energetic onstage to dance up a storm, the band played the iconic Misirlou, made famous by the film Pulp Fiction, a fitting way to end this swinging set.
