Luca Brasi @ The Triffid, Brisbane - 17/08/18

Photography by Dom Gould

​The four-piece from Tasmania return to The Triffid for the second time after their ever- successful gig last year; and this time, they brought friends.

Eliza and the Delusionals opened the show in matching red tops and Ashley Martin, their guitarist who shredded his Gretsch in a way that would have made George Harrison proud. During her song Salt, Eliza’s voice was reminiscent of Alex Lahey belting out to a tune in the style of Catfish and the Bottlemen. The gathering crowd caught interest and swarmed towards the stage as the band flawlessly played Half Empty Girl, yet another vibrant song opposed with kinda sad lyrics.

The indie rock vibe transitioned into a much heavier atmosphere as Tiny Moving Parts took over the stage, immediately asserting their presence with striking vocals. The Americans did not disappoint the local Aussie crowd and in return, we showed them our potential to match their energy. Between their emotion fuelled screamo and rock combo, lead singer Dylan Mattheisen riled up the ever-expanding crowd, yelling “Luca Brasi are up next! Fuck yeah!!”. Their drummer, William Chevalier, not only rocked the room but also rocked a killer moustache as he led the band on another rampage of songs from their new album Swell. The screamo of his brother and bass player, Matthew Chevalier, paired perfectly with Dylan’s blink182-esque voice.

By the time Luca Brasi stepped, one by one, onto the stage of their sold-out show, it certainly felt that way. The crowd was packed to the edges of the walls and up all along the balcony. As the moshing ensued, everyone took joy in watching a man attempt to carry four glasses of what looked like jack and cokes to his friends in the middle of the mosh, which ended as you would expect. However, that took nothing from Tyler Richardson’s jarring vocals and immense stage presence, slapping the bass to his content. This saw no less than 20 people attempting to crowd surf (I counted).

Tyler paused the show halfway to congratulate the crowd’s knowledge of their older songs, which received applause and cheers, he then reminded everyone to “take care of one another” which received more cheers and an audible “awww” from one of the crowd as they slid into 'Clothes I Slept In', a hit from their brand-new album Stay. As moshing began to swell to the next level, Luca Brasi played more favourites such as 'Got to Give' and 'Say It Back', which of course, we all did.

Finishing the show with some great acting that led the crowd to believe they weren’t coming back. Nonetheless we all chanted for another song and moments later the band took to the stage, again one by one, and serenaded everyone with not one, but three more songs! Embracing their mellow tunes, bringing the night to a nice slow close.

Catch Luca Brasi, Eliza and the Delusionals and Tiny Moving Parts at their remaining three concerts ranging as far as the west coast and finally finishing in Melbourne.

Review by Christopher Lai

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