When it comes to jangly indie pop tunes, few do it better than Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, which is why it wasn’t a surprise to see a packed Horseshoe on a holiday Monday night to see the 5-piece perform. It’s been some time since they band had played Toronto, as their last visit was their 2019 stop at the Mod Club in support of their debut LP Hope Downs. Since then, the band has released 2 albums, 2020’s Sideways to New Italy & this year’s Endless Rooms and you could tell the band was just as eager to play the new songs for the crowd as we were to hear them.
Opening were local, emo quarter Fern Sully. Though the set was short, you couldn’t help but to be won over by their emo/power grunge sounds. They’ve been steadily getting larger opening slots throughout the year and it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them headlining their own show at The Horseshoe in the not too distant future.
A short opening set meant that RBCF got to start a little early, and they didn’t waste any time getting things moving, opening with their grooving rhythmic “An Air Conditioned Man.” The band played at a frenetic pace, squeezing in as many of the new songs from their two new albums as they could. Songs like “Blue Eye Lake”, “My Echo,” and “Cars in Space” all sounded unbelievable, giving the fans something to bounce along and bob their heads.
Where the new songs were clearly the spotlight of the night, it was the earlier songs that truly shone brightest. Perhaps it was just the fact that the band was a personal favourite at the time the pandemic hit, and it had been a long wait since their last shows here, but there seemed to be something about hearing the earlier songs that just hit right. The driving rhythm of “Talking Straight” was an early set highlight, but the night ended on an extremely strong note with a one-two punch of “Fountain of Good Fortune” and “The French Press” that brought the place down. If anyone went into that show a casual fan, that set surely cemented them as full-fledged Rolling Blackouts fans.
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Be sure to check out Collective Concerts to see what other great artists they will be bringing to Toronto this year.
