The crowd filling the Croxton to watch Cash Savage and The Last Drinks was filled with the enthusiasm of an audience five times its size. People were dancing; smiles on their faces and drinks in hand.
After spending the last year touring Europe, and playing on local festivals like Meredith, Dark Mofo and Wave Rock WA, Cash Savage and her merry band of Last Drinks returned for their biggest hometown show to date, ending their four-stop national tour to celebrate the release of their third album One of Us.
Savage’s voice is rugged and husky, with a deep soulful edge. She did have a tendency to mumble out her lyrics incomprehensibly, which was a shame, as on record, the songwriter’s painstakingly honest songs are highly emotive and raw.
Material from One of Us, Run With The Dogs, Do You Feel Loved and Rat-a-tat-tat showed off the band’s ferocity, while old favourites Hypnotiser and I’m in Love were crowd pleasers, with chorus sing-a-longs making their way to the back of the room.
Though enjoyable to watch while playing her guitar, Savage makes a more convincing frontwoman without an instrument, boasting a more commanding onstage presence. Upon putting down her instrument, she prowled along the stage, between her band members, matching her growling voice with animalistic movements.
Savage may be the frontwoman and namesake of the musical outfit, but the Last Drinks – Kat Mear on violin, Rene Mancuso on drums, Chris Lichti on bass, Joe White on guitar, and Brett Marshall on guitar and banjo – were the real stars of the show. The partnership between the Macuso’s drumming and Mear’s violin was particularly lovely and harmonic, with simple drum work complementing the complex strings. It was a shame the band members were never mentioned by name on stage, for they truly made the show.
WORDS BY CLAIRE VARLEY
IMAGE BY ANNA MADDEN
Loved: Kat Mear’s violin.
Hated: My inability to understand Savage’s lyrics.
Drank: Liberally.
