LIVE REVIEW: Closure In Moscow – ‘Pink Lemonade’ Album Launch (5/10/14)

May 17th, 2014

Brenton Harris

It’s been five years since Australia’s Closure in Moscow announced themselves to the world with their critically acclaimed debut First Temple. So it’s with a sense of great anticipation and joy that the band’s ever faithful fan-base enters the Evelyn hotel tonight to witness the birth of its follow-up, the bombastic progressive-rock opus known as Pink Lemonade.

Taking the stage to the sounds of “Pinku Remonado,” the colourfully dressed quintet wastes no time introducing us to the world of Pink Lemonade whipping the hometown crowd into a frenzied state with an incendiary rendition of the spasmodic “Neoprene Byzantine” before opening up the dance floor with the groove-laden “That Brahmatron Song,” eliciting a rapturous response from the suitably well-lubricated (it’s Saturday night after all) audience.

With the rhythm section of Salvatore Aidone and Duncan Miller providing infectious grooves and guitarists Mansur Zennelli and Michael Barett melting brains with their seemingly effortless displays of guitar wizardry, the instrumental section of the band is in career-best form, setting the stage perfectly for charismatic vocalist Chris de Cinque to play puppet master to the excitable masses before him. As the band transitions from “That Brahmatron Song” into a trio of cuts off of First Temple in the form of “Kissing Cousins,” “Reindeer Age” and “A Night At The Spleen” de Cinque has the audience in the palm of his rather excitable hands, leading the crowd in some rather deafening sing-alongs as he dances around the stage in his rather unique manner.

With the audience well and truly ready to bust a move, the band makes an impressive segue from “A Night At The Spleen” into the infectious “Seeds of Gold.” An impossibly catchy number off of Pink Lemonade that is driven by a stellar bass-line from Miller, and a killer chorus melody, “Seeds of Gold” is an absolute party starter and if the audience reaction is anything to go by, the band may have a crossover single in their hands. Superb versions of title track “Pink Lemonade,” “Dinosaur Boss Battle” and “The Church of The Technochrist” follow, with de Cinque truly coming into his own as a showman as he dons a pair of laser emitting spectacles and runs riot over the stage. The band follows up this totally bodacious trio of tracks with the dynamic one-two punch of “Deluge” and “Sweet#Hart” off of First Temple and the place comes positively unglued, with “Sweet#Hart” inspiring the crowd’s interactions to a whole new level of enthusiasm.

With energy levels on high it is with great sadness that we are greeted with the news that the next track will be the last we’ll hear from the band tonight, which after five years of waiting leaves some members of the audience temporarily deflated. However, from the moment the band launches headfirst into the funky “Happy Days” the energy is insatiable. A heavily blues inspired number with a stellar soul-pop chorus, “Happy Days” features the kind of danceable rhythm that should appeal to fans of all genres and has even the most rhythmically challenged of folk in the room busting a groove in response. As the track draws to a close with a few repetitions of its utterly addictive chorus, the band makes their exit from the stage, to rapturous applause, but leaves us with a hint that something special is still to come in the encore.

As the band retakes the stage it becomes immediately apparent that that something special is a re-working of Prince’s mega-hit “Purple Rain” which the band rechristens “Pink Lemonade” with the chorus lyrics switched accordingly for good measure. With solos flying everywhere, the track proves to be a suitable choice of cover for such a technically proficient band, with each member given a chance to show off their impressive instrumental chops, before coming together to absolutely nail the outro and send the audience out on a high having reconfirmed their status as one of nation’s best live bands with one of the year’s best albums in their possession.

Whatever that Pink Lemonade is made of, I want some.

Review written by: Brenton Harris
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Closure In Moscow’s Pink Lemonade album tour continues throughout the remainder of this month. A full list of dates and ticket details can be found here