LIVE REVIEW - Dear Seattle @ The Woolly Mammoth

On the heels of their debut album, ‘Don’t Let Go’, Dear Seattle have been out and about touring the country. We snuck out to the Woolly Mammoth to catch them live, and to re-live my glory days of university alcoholism with a Thursday night sesh.

Up first, from the far off land of Adelaide, was the two man team TOWNS. My best summary of TOWNS is that they are like a cheeky $1 dollar hamburger, fun to nibble on, but by no means filling.

The men had good on stage banter, and spent some quality time riffing off each other, but, with a limited catalogue, it felt like a lot of filler. The inclusion of a musical medley of TV show theme songs is a novel idea, but, as much as I love the Home & Away theme, it wasn’t exactly high up on what I wanted out of the band.

Things got back on track once we hit ‘Sun’, and with its roarin’ chorus, I rate it as the top track off the TOWNS EP ‘Television’. Unreleased new track ‘Boring’ also got a play, so, there may well be a follow up EP in the works. It ended with the band’s new single, ‘Safe to Stay’, which you check out on a whole host of music streaming services. Best of luck to Dan on drums with the hairdressing, but, I’d focus on the music for now.

We only saw them a couple of months ago, but Eliza and the Delusionals were back, bringing with them a few new tracks to mix things up. ‘Just Exist’ is freshly out, so you can jump online and check it out for yourself right now. Eliza described new track ‘Swimming Pool’ as being about all those times were you dive straight back into those bad decisions. If you want an early taste of it or fellow newie ‘Pull Apart Heart’, you’ll need to head along to one of their shows. You can check out my full review of Eliza and the Delusionals here.

As soon as Dear Seattle took the stage, they cut straight into it, jumping into ‘When I’m Gone’. Can’t fault using the start of the new album to start a show. It’s (relatively) relaxed vibes lulled me into a false sense of security, since ‘Daytime TV’ was right up next.

As soon as that first ‘dah da dah’ rung out, the mosh was on, because Thursday night be damned, we were going to hurt Friday morning. And even if you don’t know the words, you can still yell that hook out as the bodies crash around you.

By the time ‘Homegrown’ started, I’d gone from the front row to the back of the mosh.

The crowd was starting to slow as we approached the halfway mark. Then the one-two combo of ‘Afterthought’ and ‘Cut You Deep’ dropped and we were back to firing on all cylinders.

With its down but still punching chorus, ‘Afterthought’ is your opportunity to jump and yell like a maniac. The band will be going just as wild.

The set featured all the best bits from the new album and the band’s earlier EP. We got ‘Try’, ‘The Meadows’ and ‘Let Me Bleed’, and really, what more can you ask for?

The encore pick is a little more relaxed, so, if you have any energy left, ‘Maybe’ is your last chance to slam dance and mosh your pain away. With some more ‘dah da dahs’, don’t be afraid to get amongst it.

For the encore, it was one of the slower moments on the album, ‘I Keep Dreaming’. Lead vocalist Brae said that this song in particular is more meaningful to him than any other song they have ever released. So, seems like a good choice for a final track.

Their current tour isn’t over yet, so, you can still grab some tickets to Dear Seattle. Or buy the album. Or both.