Get Rocked! w/ Les Gock & Rick Lum (HUSH) + Mark Gable (Choirboys): Bring The Glam! – Adelaide Fringe 2019 Review

The GC – Grand Central On Angus Street – Grand Central Showroom, Thu 21 Feb. [MUSIC ~ SA PREMIERE ~ SA] Finally; a show for the serious music lover. Australia’s brief dalliance with Glam Rock signalled something of a goodbye to the boogie/rock ‘n’ roll-fuelled halcyon days of Sunbury, sharpies and Saturday night front bar shows. Tonight, it is easy to see why many still lament the onset of punk, new wave and new romanticism, as important, enjoyable and inevitable as they were. It meant the end of much that had come before. For a while, anyway. Les Gock and Rick Lum were the cornerstones of Hush and, along with Smiley Pailthorpe and Keith Lamb, they pretty much owned Countdown when it was at its most popular. Gock and Lum have teamed up with The Choirboys’ Mark Gable to present a night of classic Australian rock, highlighted with the singles that made Hush a (teenage) household name for a brief but fondly remembered period back in the Seventies. The line-up is completed by Peter Northcote on guitar and Fabrizio Omodei behind the drums. Songs by The Easybeats, Rose Tattoo, The Angels, AC/DC, all help Gock and his mates tell the tale of how he discovered music and how his band took Australia by storm. Gable sings well, in fact the whole band does a sterling job, but it is Gock’s searing, singular guitar playing that is the most memorable aspect of the performance. While all the songs bear close resemblance to the originals, they all sound a bit like Hush songs. From the first chords of Get Rocked! and Glad All Over until the climactic finale featuring Bony Moronie and Highway To Hell, the guitar is king. This has been a great night and one that shows that, even in these sometimes contrived and insipid musical times, rock ‘n’ roll will (hopefully) never die. Get Rocked! has lived up to its promise. 4 stars David Robinson #ADLfringe Image courtesy of David Robinson