Movements (USA) Australian Tour 2018 1/4 - Adelaide

This week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel across the southern and east coasts of Australia to see Movements play across 4 dates for this tour starting with the notorious city of Radelaide.

Opening the night up was the 4 piece local outfit Bearclaw Camp, a pop punk act that has been making waves in the local scene, having just recently supported bands such as Neck Deep and Seaway! Never having seen them prior, I was immediately impressed. Their stage presence and all around attitude was very cute and wholesome, you could tell these guys have been friends for a long time. The dynamics between the 3 guitarists was immense, sharing the load of singing and screaming through every song in a way I haven’t seen a band do since the likes of Alexisonfire. The music itself was a punkier pop punk with some hardcore elements and at times reminded me of Blink-182, except good. Seeing as these guys were put on at the last minute for this bill (Coves was originally set to open but unfortunately had to pull out) they truly blew my expectations out of the water.

Next up we see the unique hardcore punk powerhouse Ambleside take command of their hometown stage, opening up their set with a cool confidence that never wavered throughout the set’s duration. As expected, the room filled quickly and the local heroes did what they do best; play tight with high energy. The biggest highlight from this set would have to be the last 2 tracks being 'Blur' and of course 'Wash away'. The crowd was eating up that new tune, and as I think anyone who knows of Ambleside could tell you, Wash Away was just as immense as ever with just about every patron rushing the stage for that last song. This band is pretty untouchable, proven once again by their stellar performance Friday night.

Anticipation for Movements’ Adelaide debut building, the alt rock Newcastle crew from Eat Your Heart Out take to the stage. While the audience involvement took a step back from Ambleside to Eat Your Heart Out, this young 5 piece suffered none whatsoever. From the get go the instrumentals were bouncing off each other just as professionally as you would imagine, an air of relaxed professionalism oozing from every note. As always, singer Caitlyn Henry’s performance left nothing to be desired, nailing every note. As the intensity rose, I noticed rhythm guitarist Andrew Anderson must have punched through a pint or 2 prior to their set, as he’d ripped his fingers up on the strings while playing, resulting in a spray of blood standing out harshly against the white of his pick guard; gnarly. The climax of the set arrived when the outfit invited Patrick Miranda of Movements to the stage to fulfil his guest spot on Eat Your Heart Out’s 'Conscience' which caused the room to swell in anticipation of what was to come. From start to finish, Eat Your Heart Out set the bar high and only ever raised it as the night let on.

The moment everyone was waiting for, Movements was priming to start their set. The room crept in and the sound of the earnest crowd’s chatter began to overpower the background music; tension rose. Looking at the members as they were preparing, it was apparent that they were nervous (as one could expect seeing as this is their first foray onto Australian shores) but those nerves wouldn’t last long. Cracking straight into 'Third Degree', the crowd swelled and the sound of 300 odd voices filled the room. This clearly erased all doubt from the Californian 4 piece’s mind, big goofy grins spreading across the stage. This promising start to the set had determined the standard for the rest of the night as the band worked through a catalogue of both songs from the EP ("Outgrown Things") and their debut album “Feel Something”, pausing only momentarily when a punter tumbled his way onto the stage after crowd surfing, falling right into the drum kit just as Miranda was about to sing the signature line from their song 'Hatchet', “I always had a bark without a bite” causing the band to stop mid song. Patrick joked that the young man had to ruin the best part of the song, but I don’t think anyone minded as the whole crowd egged the band on to start again from the top. I mean, I wasn’t complaining, I got to squeeze an extra half of a Movements song into my night! After this minor hiccup, the rest of the show went off without a hitch, the crowd chanting every word until the very last second as the band closes with the soft and subtle 'Daylily', a perfect closing moment; or so they thought! Prior to playing 'Daylily', Miranda pleaded to the audience indicating that the band wouldn’t be doing an encore. Ha. Nice try pal. To the dismay of the band, the chanting of “One more song!” and “Play Protection!” was too insistent to resist, and so the band returned to play the song that started it all for them; 'Protection'. The energy in the room reached an all-time high, people crowd surfing, singing, dancing and truly relishing the moment - and then the main hook kicked in. To everyone’s surprise, instead of the usual “I overthink too much” we got “I fucking hate this song” which I won’t lie caught me off guard, everyone trying to hold back the laughter as they all sang along, the whole band included! For them I guess this song is a bittersweet one, as they have come a long way since then, but I think everyone in the room knew that if we didn’t get 'Protection' that night, it was likely Australia would never have had the chance to experience it, so for that, Movements, we are grateful!

All in all, the night was an enormous success, each band pulling their weight undeniably, leaving the audience with a night to remember – well, besides maybe that one guy who fell into the drum kit. From the looks of things I don’t think he’ll remember much of that night! Jokes aside though, it was extremely impressive. Just as a side note, it was really cool how the band stayed back in the venue to meet all the fans after they finished their set instead of just going back to their hotel immediately; they really felt something I guess!

For those interested in seeing them for other dates on this tour, the setlist was as follows:

Third Degree Under The Gun Colorblind Full Circle Deep Red Worst Wishes Nineteen Hatchet Deadly Dull Kept Suffer Through Daylily Protection (Encore)