Author: Urban Bolta
Location: Gasometer / Vienna / Austria
Concert date: 04.03.2010
Attendance: 2500
Ticket price: 24€
In the flood of the modern understanding of music, where the media dictate the stream of current tunes to the potential listener and where populist outlets, lobbied by the music industry, tell you what’s good and what isn’t, it’s impossible to make it (globally) on quality music alone. Besides potential and talent, a band (sadly) also needs connections and contacts, and with those come money and good management. Like an island in the sea of cheap musical thrills in today’s MTV world, Airbourne, young rockers from the small Australian town of Warrnambool, have pulled it off under exactly these conditions. They’ve woven these preconditions, or rather the modern way of looking at the music business, into the legacy of old-school rock’n’roll noise, and success is here.
Airbourne are stepping into the world with big strides. They started writing their story in 2003, soon put out their first EP, and on the back of great reviews recorded and released the debut “Runnin’ Wild” in 2007. The first European tour followed, with a stop at Vienna’s Flex club, which at best can cram in a few hundred souls. Three years after the debut, the guys decided to release their second studio album, titled “No Guts. No Glory.”; the official release is set for March 8, and the European tour in support of the fresh record kicked off a few days earlier. Vienna landed right at the start of the tour, and the band’s growing popularity has landed them in Gasometer. In just two years Airbourne have thus “moved up” to a venue almost ten times bigger, which is direct proof that the guys are doing very well on their ambitious path.
Before the reason for the several-hundred-kilometer trip to Vienna, Taking Dawn took the stage. The Americans, barely twenty-something years old as a band, are in Europe for the first time and will thoroughly crisscross the old continent with Airbourne in March and April. The lads swear by melodic hard rock with hard-edged guitar work that blurs the line between hard rock and heavy metal. Dynamic, varied songs and a heaping dose of melody are the trademarks of the foursome, who played tracks from their recently released debut “Time To Burn”. The guitar phrases recall the legacy of the second half of the eighties in the style of Skid Row, while the mainstream attitude, more aggressive vocals and a more prominent role for the bass are the results of today’s modern trends. A solid set was tarnished by the not-so-great sound in the otherwise acoustically excellent Gasometer and by the singer’s overdone, almost pushy urging of the crowd to join in. They woke up the crowd gathering in the hall, but for more the Americans would have needed a more convincing performance. Taking Dawn are a band that, with a pinch more of their own identity in their original material, could still make themselves noticed in the future.
During the break the crew got everything ready for Airbourne’s set. The stage was ruled by an army of Marshall amps, and the backdrop was graced by a huge curtain with the cover illustration of the fresh release “No. Guts. No Glory.”; since the record wasn’t out yet, the big question was how the new, unfamiliar material would hold up live next to the anthemic tunes from the previous two releases, which had long since settled into fans’ ears. The comparatively short setlist from the Milan show two days earlier and the only slight presence of new material just added fuel to the guessing.
The opening bars took us into “Raise The Flag”, kicking off the promotion of the new record for the Austrian crowd. The first half of the show was dedicated to the newest creations, the second to the already established fire-starters, and despite the typically clichéd setlist concept, we can safely forget about any calculation with Airbourne. From the first hit on the drum to the last twang of the guitar an hour and a half later, the stage belongs solely and exclusively to their antics and drops of sweat; they squeeze out everything they’ve got and convince even the most hardened doubting Thomas that their show isn’t merely the product of the clink of coins. Guitarist David Roads and bassist Justin Street bounce around like ping-pong balls, swapping positions at express speed and bringing plenty of dynamics to the stage show, and frontman Joel O’Keeffe is no less wound up, roaring and snarling from the throat, his unique voice fitting perfectly into the Airbourne onslaught. In one number, O’Keeffe, over the instrumental backing of his bandmates, took a stroll through the hall to the faraway bar and knocked out his vocal duties right on top of it. Airbourne songs alone already carry an unimaginable amount of energy, and together with the stage show they make a deadly pair, the result a ticking bomb that brings even more kinetic energy to the front of the stage with every following song. Understandably, all this is just part of the Airbourne showbiz, but anyone who’s ever had the chance to see the Aussies can confirm that they give every last atom of strength. Airbourne are without a shadow of a doubt a live attraction, and meeting them “eye to eye” is an unforgettable experience. The stage chemistry is enough for the fun to spread like wildfire through the crowd, even though their show has no visual effects, sound gimmicks or any other aids for creating a spectacle. With Airbourne, chemistry and explosiveness are enough. They work. One hundred and twenty percent.
The show turns with “Born To Kill”. It heralds a transformation. The curtain with the new album cover is replaced by a huge skull logo, from now on their new trademark and a partly changed overall look. Together with singer O’Keeffe’s constant swigging of beer and songs like the charging “Runnin’ Wild” or “Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast”, the lads present themselves as bad boys, loyal to the tradition of beer-soaked rock’n’roll and pretty girls. Add the guys’ stage moves, which strongly recall Angus Young’s trademark “walk”, and the comparison to their famous countrymen is more than apt. There’s no doubt Airbourne grew up in pubs listening to AC/DC; the kinship shows in everything they do. The Ryan O’Keeffe/Street rhythm machine spews fire and is fast as a shark (if you’ll allow the comparison, Accept!), which takes them away from the blues foundation AC/DC built on, but the song structures and the absence of slide guitar technique are still more than obvious giveaways of where they draw their inspiration. The pacing of the tracks anchors them in heavy rock waters, in raw rock’n’roll rhythm, so a comparison to Motörhead is welcome here too.
The show hit its boiling point in the encore, when Gasometer sang along together and swayed (to put it mildly) to the most recognizable Airbourne songs from the debut “Runnin’ Wild”, and after “Blackjack” a glance at the clock revealed that a good ninety minutes, which is what Airbourne gave us, had flown by in a flash. A lot more than in Milan two days earlier, but a lot less than you’d expect for such a young band. A result of the energetic performance? Probably.
Young quality bands are rarer these days than edelweiss in Triglav National Park, so it’s always a pleasure when you stumble upon one of them. Despite the commercial tendency Airbourne lean toward, they still have that musical spark that so many bands are chronically short on. Airbourne are proof that rock’n’roll can still be fun. As long as the right players are making it.
Photos: Urban Bolta
Setlist
1. Raise The Flag 2. Hellfire 3. Chewin’ The Fat 4. Diamond In The Rough 5. What’s Eatin’ You 6. Get Busy Livin’ 7. Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women 8. Blonde, Bad and Beautifu 9. Born To Kill 10. Heartbreaker 11. Back On The Bottle 12. No Way But The Hard Way 13. Girls In Black 14. Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast —————————– 15. Stand Up for Rock ‘N’ Roll 16. Runnin’ Wild —————————– 17. Blackjack
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