23 April 2024 – The Triffid, Brisbane – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
Marking their first run of shows in Australia since January 2020, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes have returned to Australia to promote their new record Dark Rainbow. And we were on hand to catch probably one of my favorite shows of 2024 so far. Supporting the tour are Newcastle punk rockers These New South Whales, and this was my first time having the chance to catch both acts live.
These New South Whales are quite honestly a riot live. I’ve been to a lot of gigs over my lifetime. I’ve never been to a show where the opening band does a few minutes of stand up comedy level crowd work before launching into their set. Lead vocalist Jamie Timony has some great chops vocally, as well as with the comedy. At one point in the show, he called for everyone to shout their names out, and asked if there was someone called Fergus, because he thought he heard the name Fergus, and wanted to talk to them. Another moment involved Timony giving a shout out to people that owned pool noodles, before breaking down the complexities of the New South Wales taxation system. Absolutely wild stuff. From a musical perspective, there were some great tunes here. ‘Under the Pressure’, ‘Broken System’, and ‘Rotten Sun’ were highlights. A final bit of crowd work for the night capped off the set closer ‘Changes’, in what was probably the most unhinged live set I’ve ever seen.
These New South Whales – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
A quick set changeover, and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes descended onto a rabid Brisbane audience, loud as hell before the band could even play a note. They opened proceedings with ‘Self Love’ and ‘Honey’, two songs from Dark Rainbow. Frank asked how many people had seen them before, which I gotta say, the roar of the crowd impressed me, before they played a one for the OGs, in ‘Devil Inside Me’. The energy of this crowd was hot, and Carter even acknowledged it a couple of times throughout the night. He jumped into the crowd for ‘Kitty Sucker’, riding the rail, crowd surfing, and even popping off a headstand on the mosh, which is stuff I’ve never seen before, let alone from the lead vocalist of the band playing.
Carter then opened the pit for the ladies only to mosh to ‘Wild Flowers’, and Carter again acknowledged the “top tier vibe” Brisbane was putting out. After ‘Tyrant Lizard King’, there appears to be some technical issues, so Frank had to stall for time, which included shaking hands with fans as he jumped into the middle of the pit, talking about his 19 months of sobriety, and popping a cheer because he’s almost 40. He then started up a circle pit to ‘The Drugs’, while he stood in the middle as the crowd ran around him. He dedicated the song ‘My Town’ to Brisbane, and we also got ‘Cupid’s Arrow’ which was a fun one live.
Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
If you might not have caught it already, but Frank Carter live is such a funny person. As he introduced ‘Can I Take You Home Tonight’, he asked for crowd participation to play either the “sexy songs” or the “savage songs”, which Frank acknowledged that the sexy songs outnumbered savage, and that had never happened before. Then for ‘Brambles’, he encouraged everyone to grab a parter to dance with, and said “if you’re here with your ex, I wouldn’t suggest it”. Someone yelled something from the crowd which made Carter snort laughing, and Carter was super embarrassed that happened on stage.
Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes – Triffid – photos by Bec Harbour
The back end of the set was solid, with ‘Happier Days’, ‘Crowbar’, and ‘Lullaby’ all getting huge sing-alongs from the crowd. Carter did some more crowd work, including getting everyone to sing Happy Birthday to someone named Matty in the crowd, before dedicating ‘I Hate You’ to him, and closing the show off with ‘Man of the Hour’. It might be recency bias, but this was probably one of the most electric sets I’ve seen all year. Frank Carter’s encouragement for the crowd to be fun and rowdy, plus adding in mountains of crowd participation, to a solid set of songs, bolstered by one hell of a band in The Rattlesnakes, this was one of the most fun shows I’ve been to so far this year.
