British India [live review]

The Wool Exchange, Geelong – May 30
Supports: Tired Lion and Grenadiers
Reviewed and photographed by Amanda Sherring
Attending a British India gig almost seems to be a requirement for all Geelong locals, and while I haven’t attended all of their stops in Geelong, I feel this was the most important one to witness. With the tour in support of their new album, Nothing Touches Me, said to be their best to date, the real test comes with seeing them play the songs live.
But a bigger test came with Tired Lion, who have recently been caught onto by big media names and claimed as the next best thing. Luckily I got a spot front and centre to see these guys – a spot that I didn’t leave for the rest of the night – and they didn’t disappoint. Lead singer Sophie Hopes was a ball of energy on stage, and while playing first up it’s never to the full crowd, the band still acted as if it was. Kudos to you guys!
Grenadiers is a trickier act to comment on as their whole set was a fuzzy blur of instruments – yes I was front row which at times can be a sacrifice to good quality sound, those who were further back in the venue said they felt much the same. The band even made a comment on performing in Geelong, the meaning we’re not too sure of but when you’re music is coming out as fuzz – and not the good kind – it would be frustrating. Nonetheless the general beats could be heard and at least the band weren’t playing to a confused, motionless crowd.
Lastly, the band everyone came to see. By the time they took to the stage the crowd was feeling rowdy, maybe it was the fuzzy tunes of Grenadiers that messed with our minds but there was a definite tension in the air. Starting off with ‘Black and White Radio’ as one of their first tracks was a sign of bigger things to come, why else would they play one of the biggest and crowd favourite live tracks at the start? Put simply, playing such a track early on the mosh was awoken and punches, pushes and frantic running were all fair game. Good thing I had a cosy spot at the barricade. They continued to play through with some of their newer tracks, ‘Suddenly’, ‘Nothing Touches Me’ and ‘Wrong Direction’ with a few of the favourites thrown in for good measure, ‘Vanilla’, ‘Run the Red Light’ and ‘Safari’. The new tracks easily stood up to the live test, and we’d all had plenty of time between radio play and the album release to familiarise ourselves with the tracks. Now, I did mention that ‘Black and White Radio’ came early on, and that was to save the final song for a cover of Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’. I’m not gonna lie, this is my favourite go-to party track, and as soon as the first few chords came in you could feel the rest of the crowd felt the same. I like to think Geelong got the special treatment as Melbourne received a cover of Blink 182’s ‘Dammit’. While I can’t say how that went, I know for certain that there was barely a dry, un-bruised, perfectly maintained body leaving the mosh that night. Cheers for the good times British India, you’re always welcome in Geelong.