:: Wolfmother / The Mess Hall - Forum Theatre, Melbourne - November 2005

By: Mark Rasmussen

Jet… The Von Bondies… The Drones… Wolfmother. What if I said there's been one band who has not only been fortunate enough to play alongside them all but been better than all of them! Sydney two-piece The Mess Hall is quickly earning the reputation as Giant Killers. Their energetic, non-stop set absolutely slays 'em. And so it was again on this Saturday night at the majestic Forum Theatre.

With an early start (8.30pm), I was concerned that some would miss out but by about three songs in, the place was just about at full capacity. The crowd were a little slow to warm to them initially but once they dropped a cover of Nirvana‘s 'Breed’ (something I haven't heard them do before), they went nuts! With Jed's cool rock persona and axe-wielding control and Cec's insane, manic drumming style, it wasn't long before the place was rocking.
They just seem to have this ability to whip the crowd into a frenzy at will (and I‘ve seen it done many times now) with any of their songs, be it 'Disco 1’, ‘Lock And Load’, ‘Pills’, ‘Shake Shake’ or ‘Metal and Hair’. Their blues based, garage rock is incredibly infectious and by the end of their set they always win people over.

And so, after a mind blowing performance it was time to take in the band of the moment. I'd seen Wolfmother twice before and came away from those gigs very happy but tonight felt completely different. With a big painted backdrop behind them, it seems Andrew, Myles and Chris have let the hype and fame get to their heads somewhat. They pulled off all the cliche rock moves (much like their influences did all those years ago), and generally just carried on with very obvious, over-inflated egos. And while the full house seemed to lap it up, I came away disappointed. Although I know it's part of their on stage persona, to me, it lacked all the freshness, excitement and originality of their earlier shows.

With a lot of posing and considerable gaps between songs, their set felt rehearsed… and well, fake! Sure they‘ve got the songs - 'White Unicorn’, ‘Dimension’, ‘Mind's Eye’, ‘Apple Tree’, ‘Joker & The Thief’ - which they played solidly (with ‘Woman’ being an obvious highlight), but they should've been in the crowd to watch The Mess Hall's performance. Perhaps then, they might realise that there are good performances and then there's brilliant, genuinely exciting performances. With Meredith to come (for both bands), the juries out as to whether Wolfmother are the real deal or just pretenders cashing in on the current trend of rehashing the past.