Airbourne: Ocker Rockers that Rock
by Vaughan Lovell
Airbourne literally lit up the King’s Arms on Friday night, giving punters a hugely energetic show involving bar visits mid-set by frontman Joel O’Keefe.
His other party trick was scaling speakers stacked to the ceiling, whilst playing blistering solos.
In fact, it was the most energetic show I have ever seen performed at the King’s Arms, let alone at larger venues such as the St. James, through to the ample stage size of the Big Day Out.
Airbourne let everybody know that they had arrived and they were there to have as good a time.
And by crikey did they do a good job.
Unleashing their take on the classic Aussie pub-rock style, which includes the likes of Jimmy Barnes and AC/DC, Airbourne injected their own youthful and rowdy concoction of fist-pumping songs which begged for the crowd to sing along.
If it weren’t for their relative newcomer status on the music scene in New Zealand, I’m sure everbody in the King’s Arms would have screamed along with frontman O’Keefe and his growling falsetto voice.
As the show trucked on through a reportoire of excellent rock n’ roll songs off their debut album Too Much Too Young Too Fast, I couldn’t help but think that this band could become the next big thing.
Joel O’Keefe is and absolute born rock n’ roll performer. He didn’t stop once during the show and engaged audience members with great stage talk between songs; and by emptying a full bottle of Jack Daniels into the mouths of anyone in the crowd close enough to catch a generous mouthful. Pure rock n’ roll.
Oh, and he jumped off the stage and ran to the bar to get a beer as the rest of his bandmates played on. That’s true blue.
To cap off the brilliant showmanship, O’Keefe then proceeded to climb atop the large speakers on the side of the stage, and, crouching to play guitar as he was squeezed between the top speaker and the ceiling, pulled a large lamp off the lighting rig and shone it into the crowd.
That was it in my books. Joel O’Keefe was now a fledgling rock god.
If I were to make any criticism of the Airbourne show, it was that initially it seemed that they were an AC/DC clone - close your eyes and they sound almost identical.
However, as the Airbourne show proceeded song by song, I thought that these four Melbourne-based rockers actually took on their very own sound and presence, despite their aural similarities with AC/DC.
I can’t help but feel that Airbourne could ride the current wave of Rock n’ Roll rebirth all over the world, and gain the respect and fan base that such a hard working live show and great cache of rock n’ roll songs surely deserves.
I’d say it would be likely that Airbourne will turn up at the Big Day Out next year in fact, and impress the masses with their stunning stage show.
If they do, I’m there.