[Live Review] BRITISH INDIA (Central Coast)

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Long Jetty Hotel, Central Coast
Saturday October 22, 2016 :

The Long Jetty Hotel seems to be slowly picking up where other venues have left off. The Brisbane garage punk outfit Dune Rats played there in July and with the hip hop group Thundamentals set to grace the venue in December I just knew I had to get along to this local venue to see what all the fuss is about. The Brisbane indie group British India are probably the biggest band to play a Central Coast show in the past year and this was reflected in the attendance. While not sold out, around 300 people descended onto the pub to see the band and their supports.

Local act Man to Moon opened the gig to a packed room. These boys are well known in the local area with many of them having played in various other local bands before, as well as supporting other acts that have toured the Central Coast and playing Mountain Sounds Festival in 2016. They were on fire and were a perfect opener for this regional gig.

Following on from MTM were PLANET who are supporting British India on most of the NSW and ACT gigs of the tour. Fresh of the release of their new single ‘Can’t Connect’, the Sydney based five-piece brought an eclectic mix of pop-rock blended with dreamy guitars that took you to another world. They were the perfect medium to draw into the main act, British India.

It was standing room only when British India finally graced the stage. Touring for their new single ‘I Thought We Knew Each Other’, they filled the relatively small room out the back of the pub. Playing a mix of tracks from their back catalogue as well as the newest single proved to be a hit for the crowd filled with as many 30 somethings as there were 20 somethings. Their highest charting single ‘Run the Red Light’ got everyone grooving and even opened a small mosh in the centre of the room. Their second highest charting single ‘I Can Make You Love Me’ also got everyone dancing despite the nature of the song.

As far as local gigs go, British India at the Long Jetty Hotel was as close to 5 stars as you could get. The music was perfect, the sound was brilliant. The only downside to the night was the bar shutting 10 minutes into British India’s hour long set but the venue is probably not at fault there. With the crowd that came out to see them that night, I believe we can expect to see larger acts playing on the Central Coast in 2017.

Reviewer : Andrew Scott
Photographer : Ben Hunt

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