Moses Gunn Collective @ The Great Northern Byron Bay 15/08/2015

Brisbane band, Moses Gunn Collective kicked off their Mercy Mountain tour in Byron Bay at The Great Northern with a free show, plenty of glitter, movers and shakers were present, the band had only just released their album Mercy Mountain on the 7th of August. After much anticipation and excited fans, the peacock/sequin goddess of an album cover hit the shelves and the band didn't disappoint with the rad tunes. The Great Northern filled up very quickly, especially with being a free show everyone got there fairly early to grab a few drinks and catch the support acts, who I had never heard of.

If you've been to the northern you know how cool this venue is, it may appear small but man it fits a fair few bodies inside. The first band to kick off the night was 4 piece Lismore band, The Dominiques, they made quite an impression on the audience. They had a very cool sound, and a very interesting friend up on stage, a man dressed up in tights and a massive bird cape type thing performing some very sexual dance moves on stage, everyone's eyes were glued to the stage. The Dominiques definitely got the Byron locals grooving and a fair few faces smiling, I think the birdman was a great asset to the show and the overall performance of the band, the audience were extremely attentive, only in Byron hey you'd see a fully grown man thrusting live on stage. The second band to support were Antimata, they weren't exactly my cup of tea and I was actually so surprised they were supporting a band like Moses Gunn Collective, they kinda had Nickleback vibe. They're a local Byron band and I think they had a fair few fans at the show but I guess the crowd that came for Moses Gunn weren't really expecting this alternative rock sound, but they had a good energy and you could tell they were loving it.

As soon as I saw the guys and girls setting up from Moses Gunn Collective I made my way over to the stage to grab some good standing space as I knew it was going to get pretty full on. The band came out covered in glitter and looking so happy, they were so stoked to have such a huge crowd for the first show of their album tour. As I've seen The Belligerents, The Furrs and Morning Harvey and now Moses Gunn Collective, I've noticed they share a lot of their band members, it's quite nice seeing familiar faces but good on them don't know how they do it, but all so talented and I guess they've gotta share it around. Waiting for a mini festival with all the bands they share members in, that would be pretty epic. The brand new album, Mercy Mountain has 13 epic tracks on it, and we got to hear plenty of them with an hour set from the band, they played tracks like Back Into The Womb, Mary, Hole In The Wall and the first ever track I heard from them and instantly fell in love with, Shalala. I only saw stoked faces in the crowd and on stage too, I loved that the band were so happy with the show and how much the crowd was enjoying themselves. Moses Gunn Collective are heading down south to Melbourne on Friday the 21st for their second show and then making their way back up north on the 29th of August to play their last show of the tour at Sol Bar, Maroochydore. I've loved this band since I heard their first ever track and cannot wait to see where this new killer album takes them, make sure you get yourself to their Brisbane show on the 28th of August or you can catch them at this years Big Sound Music Conference.

Sarah McEwan

Photography: Jake Wilton @ Falls Festival, Byron Bay