If there’s one thing I love, it's got to be seeing commercial stations supporting Aussie artists. Amongst many acts playing Nova’s Red Room gigs all over the place, I was so excited to see The Rubens and The Preatures headlining their own show for Nova, sponsored by Jack Daniels. And the crowd most certainly loved it too – the whole night was a testament to the incredible homegrown talent we have in Australia, and the importance of supporting it.
The house party décor in Redfern’s Cleveland Street Theatre proved an excellent setting for the gig, and a DJ provided the tunes as punters redeemed their drink tickets and chatted with each other. When The Preatures took to the stage though, they commanded the crowd’s full attention. Kicking off with “Manic Baby”, they played a killer set. Lead singer Isabella Manfredi has an undeniably powerful stage presence, and the whole band’s chemistry together is something special.
The Preatures made us dance and cheer with their retro-style rock and roll, rolling out favourites like “Take a Card” and “Is This How You Feel?” interspersed with several other tracks. I for one can’t wait for an album from these guys – it’s gonna be huge. The band closed their set with a smashing cover of “Stranded” by The Saints, and the crowd bloody loved it. The Preatures are one of the best live acts I’ve seen this year, and I would definitely recommend catching them when they next play near you.
The DJ began to play again as people grabbed more drinks in anticipation of The Rubens. After not too long a wait, the criminally handsome band hopped onstage and opened with “The Day You Went Away”. They played a good handful of tracks from their debut self-titled record released last year, as well as a newie or two that showed their current fans certainly won’t be disappointed with the band’s next release.
One of my favourite moments of their set was when lead singer Sam Margin asked an “enthusiastic” looking punter onto the stage and equipped him with a tambourine. The look of pure excitement mixed with a fair amount of concentration on this fan’s face as he beat along with the drums was beautiful to watch – and I think audience participation always adds something to a set. The Rubens played a rad set, closing with their biggest track so far, “My Gun”.
Nova definitely did well pairing The Rubens and The Preatures together. Both bands are soulful and a little bit vintage, with a crazy amount of talent and they were a pleasure to experience live. I’d love to see more Nova’s Red Room shows that showcase Australian bands – great atmosphere and fantastic music is a golden combination.
