By Anna Chiera
Photography: Anna Chiera and Antonio Marra
After lying dormant for over two years since the last live music event, Festival Hall was buzzing with crew, security, artists and fans starting to roll in for the first Uncaged Festival Melbourne.
Originally scheduled for 12th March at Reunion Park, the event was postponed due to; you guessed it, Covid restrictions and moved to 7th May 22 at the newly owned Festival (Hillsong) Hall.
Uncaged is the latest rock festival to emerge from Silverback Touring and was not just for the capital of live music. The tour started in Sydney 23rd April, and then went on to Brisbane, playing 24th April.
It was a cold autumn day but I layered up and was off to soak up the vibrations and festival glory that had been so missed over the last few years. I didn’t get to see all of the bands but here are some highlights from the day.
Among the Restless
First up on the bill and lucky enough to play the main stage were winners of the local band competition, Among the Restless. Getting a quick view from side stage whilst they were doing sound check, I got a feel for the hugeness of it all. That didn’t seem to faze the lads; they got on with it and were raring to go!
Pictured: Rhett James and Josh Marra, Among the Restless
Opening the set with ‘Someone Else’, it wasn’t hard to spot the ATR fans, flocking to the front, full of energy and a number of them wearing the merch.
You can’t help but smile when watching ATR, their enthusiasm and dedication shows through in their performance as does life’s journeys through their songs. With the likes of ‘Ego on a Tightrope’, written during covid and about being in an unstable state of mind, ‘Lucy’ and ‘Underground’ there’s meaning in their songs that I think we can all connect to in some way or another.
Ending the set with ‘Wastecase’, stemming from hatred towards our politicians, this song has got it all, heavy toms, classic rock n’ roll riffs, a guitar solo that’ll have you drooling and good old Australian angst.
I could hear influences from earlier rock n’ roll but ATR have merged this with a modern sound to make it their own. Members Rhett James (vocals), Lachie Dunn (guitar and vocals), Seamus Glenn (guitar), Jayden Hale (drums) and Josh Marra (bass) formed in 2019 after meeting by chance in Fitzroy. The momentum for these guys has been incredible and they are due to release their debut EP, Define on the 17th June.
El Colosso
With no time to waste the bands were straight into it making sure they got their full timeslot. Unfortunately for the third band onwards you didn’t get a sound check, although that didn’t stop some of the musicians including Benny James, the solo king from El Colosso, warming up his guitar while The Black Cardinals were still playing.
El Colosso are legends on the live scene, bringing a real 70’s vibe to the stage with their heavy riffs and melodic rock vocals. Composed of Matt Cooper (vocals), Benny James (guitar), Anthony Bianfofiore (guitar), Alex Hayes (bass) and newest member Dave Watkins (drums).
They powered into their set with the fast and fierce ‘Leatherhead’ and kept the crowd engaged throughout, not only with the music but also by sharing their love of Hillsong. Renaming it to Riffsong and calling it a gathering at Festival Hall not a gig, Coops signs off his sermon “So guys we wanna thank you again, in Jesus’ name, we thank you so much. Let us summon the spirits one more time.”
Pictured: Benny James and Matt Cooper, El Colosso
Hard-Ons
Next up on my list of must-sees were the Hard-Ons. Walking into the end of the first song I was greeted with a screech of the guitar from Blackie and a raucous scream from the one and only Tim Rogers. I instantly knew this was going to be a kick arse set!
Now fronting the Australian punk rock band, Tim Rogers embraces the songs with his own grit and has a stage presence that reminds me of Andy Warhol and Iggy Pop. The Hard-Ons also include the legendary Peter “Blackie” Black (guitar), Ray Ahn (bass) and Murray Ruse (drums).
Pictured: Peter “Blackie” Black, Tim Rogers, Murray Ruse and Ray Ahn, Hard-Ons
With the crowd all lubed up, they go wild as the band members rip off their shirts before launching into ‘Fucked Up Party’, another bouncy tune that you just can’t stand still for.
Nearing the end of the set I see a gap in the crowd and realise some guy getting dragged out by five security guards. “Ya pick a fight during someone’s guitar solo… I think that’s a compliment isn’t it” says Blackie.
Hard-Ons: raising testosterone levels since 1981.
Devilskin
Being from New Zealand I was really looking forward to seeing Shihad play but unfortunately they had to cancel at the last minute. Amazingly the organisers had a replacement up their sleeve with another New Zealand band, the hard-hitting metalheads, Devilskin.
The stage was dark, fans waiting in anticipation as industrial noise filled the room before the chunky riffs were unleashed. Huge vocals were belted out by Jennie Skulander as she strutted around the stage and later showed off her gymnastic skills with cartwheels, high kicks and splits.
Devilskin formed in 2010 and consists of Jennine Skulander (vocals), Tony “Nail” Vincent (guitar), Paul Martin (bass) and Nic Martin (drums). They may be from little old NZ but don’t let that fool you, Devilskin have a seriously big sound and they were well worth checking out!
Twelve Foot Ninja
Introducing themselves as The Radical Shitbags were fan favourites Twelve Foot Ninja. Decked out in 80’s gear and a backdrop to match this was a different vibe to what I remember of the band.
They got off to a rocky start with mixing and sound issues but pulled it together to entertain their die-hard fans.
This was one of last few performances with vocalist Nik “Kin Etik” Barker who is parting ways with the band in 2022 after a 14-year relationship. Members Steve “Stevic” MacKay (guitar), Shane “Russ” Russell (drums), Rohan “Ro” Hayes (guitar) and David de Vent (bass) are on the hunt for a new vocalist and I’m interested to see who ends up filling these big boots.
Magic Dirt
With all the last minute changes to set times I almost missed Magic Dirt but alas, I caught them from their second song in.
The respect and energy from the crowd for these musicians was incredible and after seeing a few of their songs and how they performed I could understand why.
Performing classics like ‘White Boy’ and ‘Plastic Loveless Letter’ this was a show that you could really feel a part of, singing along and if you were lucky, getting to play Adalita’s guitar as she shared it out to the audience.
Adalita’s euphonious voice delivered high and low tones with ease and Raúl’s pedal work brought a dynamic sound to his guitar taking it to stratospheric levels.
Consisting of Adalita Srsen (vocals and guitar), Raúl Sánchez (guitar), Adam Robertson (drums) and touring member Steve Patrick (bass), Magic Dirt is a band that absolutely loves what they do and they have fun doing it!
Pictured: Steve Patrick, Raúl Sánchez and Adalita Srsen, Magic Dirt
Wrapping up the Night:
Tex Perkins and the Fat Rubber Band
An interesting addition to the line up was legend in his own right, Tex Perkins, accompanied by the great Matt Walker, Steve Hadley, Roger Bergodaz and Evan Richards.
Tex Perkins and the Fat Rubber Band took us down a notch with their unique storytelling laid over a blues soundtrack, re-calibrating our ears for the last onslaught of the night, Wolfmother.
Wolfmother
It looked to me that Wolfmother were just going through the motions with their performance and just doing it because they had to, although Andrew Stockdale was somewhat restrained having a brace on his leg.
Full of power chords and an incredible vocal register I could understand the appeal but for me, the songs lacked variation. For a split second Andrew Stockdale graced us with a lower tone that sounded really nice and I would’ve loved to have heard more of this.
Members Andrew Stockdale (vocals and guitar), Hamish Rosser (drums) and Bobby Poulton (bass and keyboards) closed the night to a large crowd with their 60’s and 70’s rock n’ roll sound.
At times throughout the festival, one might’ve thought you were at a Hillsong event with The Super Jesus on the bill and lyrics like “I am the Preacher” from Dead City Ruins, but it was far from it with a variety of rock bands to please all appetites (links below).
All in all this was a great festival and not an easy thing to pull off, thanks Silverback Touring and all the artists for entertaining us!