Review – Pink Noise Generator, The Rocketeers & The Informers.

Getting people out on a weeknight for a late-night gig ain’t that easy; no one wants to rock-out past midnight when they’ve got work in the morning, and especially not in Adelaide on a mid-winter night. Regardless, the Cranker put on a free show and, lo, the people did turn out, with lightsabers in tow, for The Rocketeer’s one-year anniversary. (And the last Pink Noise Generator show for a couple of months.)

The Informers were first up, and they did what a good opener should – namely, kept the punters entertained while they got liquored up. Otherwise, they were relatively unremarkable. Their guitarist looks like James Franco circa 2008 but their country had no yahoo and their grunge lacked grit. And some of the songs felt a little bit compartmentalised, like there was a visceral joint between intro and verse, chorus and instrumental, that made their sound difficult to have a lightsaber battle to.

The Rocketeers were second. Last time I saw these guys they introduced themselves by saying, “It’s nice to see you all again, I hope you have a good night.” Which told you two things about them: 1) these boys are polite to a T, and 2) they were still playing to their friends. Not so this time around, they got to business with barely a nod and a word to the audience. Their debuted song was a solid, their sound had plenty of punch, their antics had plenty of pop, and if they didn’t have the crowd thumping they at least had them humming. They might have misjudged the audience when they broke out a slow song, but they got people waving lightsabers like disposable lighters which was something. All in, they put on a tight, economical set that was a nice little reward for those who braved a weeknight for a little rock.

The crowd had thinned out a bit by the time Pink Noise Generator were set up, and there was no hint of it returning to full strength. If this disappointed the band, they didn’t show it, and instead they put in a seriously solid set at what was a dicky time slot. It’s no surprise to see why these guys often get top-billing at shows, they’re a seriously professional act (although it was a shame about the war bonnets). It was a set worth staying to the end for, though, with a textured, hypnotic, in-the-moment performance of their Dancing with the Knife track. Although the audience, for all the bearded men standing around stock-still, looked like a bunch of Soviet soldiers missing their Kalashnikovs. It’s just a pity there weren’t more people around to experience it. Shame on the line-up? Shame on Adelaide.

Shame on, Adelaide. Shame on.