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Busby Marou @ The Corner Hotel

July 1, 2012 by Carl Dziunka in Featured, Gig Reviews with 0 Comments

It is a chilly night towards the end of June and it’s a night filled with both sadness and excitement. Sadness because it’s Busby Marou’s last tour of the year and excitement because Vulture gets to see three bands of extreme talent.

The aptly named I Still Don’t Believe Tour, it is hard to believe that this will be the last time we’ll see the Rockampton boys this year. Talking to Jeremy Marou after the show, he did mention they were discussing doing a few shows in Queensland towards the end of the year. We might need to keep their pens poised over their diaries in eager anticipation of these dates.

First to take to the Corner Hotel stage were Adelaide band Leader Cheetah. They came on in duo format comprising of members Dan Crannitch on vocals and guitar and his brother, Joel on Drums. Keeping the now expanding audience entertained, Crannitchs’ vocals gave off a melodic Neil Young tone. Also the upbeat mellow tunes were not far reminiscent from the group America. A smooth collection of songs that set the standard for an intensive night of pure genius.

Next to enter the stage were Melbourne’s very own The Hello Morning. The 6 member band showed pure energy from the first chord with a mix of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Psychedic and country infused blues. Showcasing tracks from their soon to be launched self titled debut album, Vulture could see that singer Steven Clifford had got the audience hanging on his every word. With a couple of covers thrown in for good measure, it showed that these fella’s were really comfortable playing to the ir hometown crowd.

The time had finally come to welcome the sensational Busby Marou to the stage. It was obvious from the crowd’s reaction how much love Australia has got for this band. And rightly so.

Having toured quite extensively this year, with a tour in America and Canada and appearing at the Bluesfest at Easter, you can understand why the boys need a break. Even after all that travel, they can still put on a show that would make you think it was the first show on the tour. With fun antics and stories, Busby Marou played their much loved songs from their self titled debut album. With some new material introduced, it leaves you excited of what to expect on a much anticipated second album. Also playing their own style on two well known songs, Better Be Home Soon and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Busby Marou’s band members increased to about 250 with the audience getting on vocals as well.

Mentioning new members, two new faces have appeared as part of the band. Enzo Russo now slaps the bass- taking over from Mike Cavendish and Connor Fitzgerald joins as keyboard player. The ever present DJ was there to give the skins a workout and a thorough beating they certainly got.

When there is something you really enjoy, it is always over too quickly and tonight was no exception. The band left the stage to riotous applause, whistles, shouts and Vulture knew there was one last song to be had. Marou’s uke was still on the stand and it needed to be caressed. To deafening applause, the boys came back for their encore and the uke got its attention. Playing “Underlying Message”, Marou’s fingers on the neck of the uke were just a blur as they are when he plays guitar. The next sight was something you probably have never seen or likely to see again. The uke was then used to play guitar and it was done to perfection. Now it was the sad part as it was definitely the end of the show but the lads can go away and know they did their job well.

Just look forward to them returning to the stage again and be absolutely sure of one thing: Vulture Magazine will be front and centre.