The Hard Aches / Verge Collection
Capitol
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Locals Verge Collection took to the stage, and kept the crowd pleased with Feel Bad Songs and Our Place. Adelaide duo The Hard Aches then launched with I Freak Out, the crowd dug the tunes, their heads bobbing. A new song sounded like an old school Fall Out Boy song with its punk rock beats while St Helens from their debut album, Pheromones, packed a punch with its honest lyrics. They ended the set with I Get Like This and a few broken guitar strings.
Tired Lion emerged onto the stage amid squeals and roars from the crowd. They jumped straight into Pretend with guitars blaring as Sophie Hopes belted out the lyrics. It was the last leg of the Australian tour before heading to Europe, and the band bashed out songs from EPs All We Didn’t Know and Figurine as they got into Desperate with the crowd’s heads banging in time with the drumbeat.
Suck, Are You Listening…Listener? and Figurine sent Hopes dancing around with her guitar as the crowd sung along, before they launched into their new single Not My Friends that created a moving mass. As the moshpit calmed down, Hopes let the crowd choose a cover to play —Violent Soho’s Saramona Said was the end result.
As soft guitars rang out, Hopes’ honest and raw lyrics on December got the crowd in a sway as their bodies got lost in the mellow, indie sound before bursts of her piercing vocals came through during the chorus.
Keeping the crowd on their toes, they treated them with a new song, written during touring, which the crowd loved as they started to mosh, bodies being thrown around like little rag dolls.
I Don’t Think You Like Me finished off the set, with a few boos of anger as a security guard violently shoved Luke, a friend of the band, off the stage as he was about to jump off into the crowd. He landed hard on the floor. ‘That’s not on mate, I don’t think he likes us’, Hopes burst out in anger while drummer Ethan Darnell helped Luke up on stage for a beer. With a guitar-blaring finish, Tired Lion didn’t disappoint the eager crowd.
ANETA GRULICHOVA
