In an era where live music trumps music videos and recording sales, bands like the Delta Riggs really stand out. With more stage energy and presence than most, if not all of their contemporaries in the country, the act casually killed it in front of a pumping crowd at Fat Controller.
Main support, Melbourne’s The Pretty Littles had plenty of dirty punk come-Oz Rock swagger, not entirely dissimilar to Bad//Dreems, whose influence was not only apparent in the music, but signified on the bassist’s shirt. The overblown self referenced sound check was a nice touch and the singer really had a great range which worked well against the murky raw rock backdrop. You could really imagine the act in a small beer soaked Melbourne pub with a sweaty raucous moshpit. Eventually, the irony wore out with the deliberately horrendous short lived Missy Higgins and Natalie Imbruglia covers.
As good as The Pretty Littles were, the gulf between a solid band like that and and outstanding act like The Delta Riggs became apparent fairly quickly. Every element of the band’s live show feels effortlessly perfect, from the smooth grooves of bassist Michael Tramonte to the steady textured drums, the wild guitars and the unmatched charisma of singer Elliott Hammond, who lords over the audience with his magnetic aura.
It’s hard to believe how many strong grooves and hooks The Delta Riggs band have in their arsenal. “It’s Over” sounds like it’s lifted off a 90s Britpop compilation, the “Record’s Flawed” deserves to be a modern Australian classic, while the sublime “Supersonic Casualties” was perhaps the track of the night. The band have come so far in their short career, they deserve even more accolades than they seem to have gotten and don’t be surprised if their star rises even higher in coming years.
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