Photo: Aaron Sammut

Well paint me red’n nail me to a barn, ‘cuz The Wilson Pickers offer up a boot-stompin’, tamborine-bangin’ good time. A bonafide Brisbane bluegrass band comprising rampant rouseabouts Andrew Morris, Danny Widdicombe, and Sime Nugent and John Bedggood [who are both Melbourne ring-ins – Live Ed], the Pickers provide an enjoyable, if anachronistic opening to the night’s proceedings. Yee-haw!

Initiating audience participation during a support act’s first track is a ballsy move, but we’re happy to oblige Little Red during Coca-Cola, thanks in no small part to drummer Taka Honda’s stool-standing, hand-clapping enthusiasm. Their love for 1960s-inspired pop is evident in every Stratocaster chord strummed, every four-part vocal harmony. They’re a joyous discovery for all whose paths they cross, and surely destined to become Big Red.

Jae Laffer reminisces mid-set that eighteen months ago, The Panics were only playing The Troubadour when they toured Brisbane. The Perth quintet have translated exceptionally well to deservedly larger venues, and their sound tonight is exquisite. Several older surprises are sprung on the capacity crowd, including Kid You’re A Dreamer and Like An Unwelcome Guest, Laffer’s favourite from 2005’s Sleeps Like A Curse. Feeling Is Gone and Don’t Fight It receive support from a brass section – courtesy of some John Steel Singers – the song perhaps becoming akin to this decade’s These Days.

ANDREW MCMILLEN

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