Live Review: Dead Letter Circus w/ Clint Boge & Rival Fire @ The Triffid
After beginning ‘The Burning Number’ tour in Adelaide, Melbourne, and through New South Wales, Dead Letter Circus headed to Brisbane to play their hometown show at The Triffid.
The night started off with Rival Fire, the self-proclaimed “shit kickers from Melbourne”. On their last night of the tour, they managed to entertain the early birds with their version of no-frills rock, which was quite a contrast from the echoing guitars and atmosphere-driven brand that Dead Letter Circus play.
As the scent of Red Bull got stronger, the crowd started to pile into The Triffid for the arrival of Clint Boge and Glenn Esmond. After greeting the crowd with what was probably the latest French word he learned, Boge began to play Bone Yard. It was hard to determine how much he would play from his days with The Butterfly Effect at the beginning of the set, but it soon became apparent Boge would indulge the local fans with the songs they grew to love.
One of the highlights of the night was the acoustic rendition of The Butterfly Effect song Reach. As the line “I’m trying to reach you” echoed over The Triffid, it was quite clear that Boge’s voice and lyrics were still able to resonate among the crowd. Along with Reach, other classics from The Butterfly Effect such Beautiful Mine, Take it Away, and Window and the Watcher were also reimagined into campfire songs that the crowd were more than happy to belt out.
It was hard not to have flashbacks of the early-to-mid 2000s and the amazing shows The Butterfly Effect performed during that era. Glenn was still rocking out the same way on his acoustic guitar that he did on his bass, and Clint’s vocals were as powerful as they have ever been. Let’s hope that this performance was a sign of things to come, instead of a reminder of what used to be.
As Boge and Esmond triumphantly left the stage it was easy to be confused for a moment and believe that the concert had ended, but there was still one band left. After the intermission, John Farnham’s You’re the Voice blared out across The Triffid. Most of the crowd seemed receptive, singing parochially along with the iconic chorus, while the others had to take their medicine and accept the fact that they would likely be subjected to that song at least once a year. Of course, they couldn’t stay mad for long as Dead Letter Circus arrived on stage shortly after.
Dead Letter Circus came out strong with Here We Divide and In Plain Sight, and they had the crowd bouncing with While You Wait. Alone Awake, Cage, I Am, and The Burning Number followed, keeping the crowd enthralled by their set list.
While the first seven songs played from the three studio albums were well met, the energy in the crowd bumped up a notch when they played Disconnect and Apply, the first single from their quintessential self-titled EP. If hearing the crowd sing “see you at work on Monday” didn’t give you chills, then you were at the wrong concert!
The songs from the self-titled EP didn’t stop there. After an impressive drum solo from Luke Williams Dead Letter Circus treated the crowd to Alien, a song they admit gets requested a lot but barely played. The mosh didn’t seem entirely sure how to react to it, but it was a big hit among the diehard fans of the EP. Dead Letter Circus then finished up their main set by playing Lodestar and fan favourite Next in Line.
After a brief encore break, Kim announced there would be two more songs before the band blazed into their performance of Tremors. As the last song was building up to an epic crescendo the crowd began to anticipate an incredible conclusion to another amazing Dead Letter Circus concert. And then it happened, the crowd got RickRoll’d! If Clint Boge’s material wasn’t enough to make everyone feel nostalgic, the sound of Never Gonna Give You Up also brought the crowd back to the 2000s.
After the joke had been played, Dead Letter Circus finally started playing The Mile, which was traditionally an opener but worked just as well to conclude the set. There were a few hitches during the set, such as a snare malfunction at the start, but Dead Letter Circus were still able to capture the imaginations of their hometown crowd.
During the set, Kim mentioned 2017 would be the 10th anniversary of the Dead Letter Circus’ self-titled EP. I know I can’t be the only one who is hoping they will mark this occasion with an even bigger and better run of shows. In any case, the future appears to be bright for one of the best bands Brisbane has to offer.
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