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The ROOT! Compendium - ArchiveJune 17, 2007The first ROOT! show drew a sizeable crowd at The Spanish Club and showed they are a dedicated and already very musically acute band. The set held up well as ROOT! did his own soundcheck while singing and the band performed. Setlist 1) I'll Get My Kicks When I'm 66
ReviewsIt was a drizzly, bitter day when I rocked up to The Spanish Club on June 17, just after they started letting people in. I was there to catch the first gig of a new group called ROOT! and they weren't scheduled to be on for another three-plus hours. I'll be damned if I wasn't going to get a good spot. The place was filling slowly, so there was no reason not to jump out and back in again, now that my wrist was safely stamped with the entry picture. Walking the dark cloud covered streets of Fitzroy (a suburb of Melbourne) was not exactly the most entertaining venture I'd voluntarially undertake, but the warm-up bands weren't exactly a reason not to walk around outside, either. So, time went by and slowly but surely more people arrived and the place started to fill. The band prior to ROOT! were alright and people started to pack in during their set and more so towards the end. A short while later, with all the equipment set and levels checked, ROOT! took the stage. Opening strong with I Get My Kicks When I'm 66, they proved to be not a dissapointment. Semi-crowd interaction began early when the singer, known as DC Root, walked off the stage, into the crowd and continued to sing - while standing directly in front of people. With little ado, they quickly jumped into their next song I Wear My Prescription Sunglassess At Night, then into more familiar territory with their only fully released song to date, Shazza and Michelle. A thumping crowd favourite which seems to be what the world really needs - more country music in your hip hop - followed with I Still Call Australia 'HO'. Some time during this part a brave person decided to walk right up to the stage. He was rewarded with a small piece of cardboard pulled from DC's pocket. Later the "purpose" of these would be revealed. Jumping into more political territory, their next song was Pauline Hansen Says There's Christian Muslims Too, followed by a message from John Howard, a spoken word recording, in which the Prime Minister of Australia pleaded with DC Root to come clean and reveal his true identity and go back to his roots. Whatever that means. Either way, it was an interesting set-up to the following songs, which all had a vague theme of 'roots'. There was some track, which, according to the set-list is called Crown, which is about poker machines. The 'crown,' of course, Melbourne's Crown Casino. It also featured an attempt at crowd interaction, but the hook didn't bite, and that was a lyrical spin on the Hokey Pokey. The only real stumble of the gig came when the song slowed and the band fell out of sync for a few bars over the lyric "And that's what its all about" right at the end. Next up was Back to Mine, which was about comfort zones. The final two songs, Spring Me Out Of Caroline Springs, Caroline and Henri Lee were a good way of ending the show. At about a half hour long, the bands first concert was bang on the money, managing to keep interest piqued and showing great promise for expansion. After the gig I managed to catch up with DC Root who claimed that a CD's worth of material had been completed and was "ready to go," however he soon mentioned "no manager, no record lable or anything" and hopefully they'll get another gig and somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody will turn up to one of their shows. He pulled out one of the pieces of cardboard, which all had individual messages, and gave me one which stated, 'The next band on is better than us'. I wasn't paying enough attention to the next band to really notice, and I've forgotten who they were supposed to be anyway. So I guess I'll stick with ROOT! and see what eventuates. Good things, I'm sure, if this show was anything to go by. - Review by Adam Submit your own review! |
