For all you sorry motherfuckers that didn’t get a chance to catch a Preatures show last week, make sure you grab the next one. On Thursday night, the Northcote played host to a true rock and roll show which fused musical performance and theatre as a means of resonating with its audience long after its termination. The Preatures, a five piece outfit from Sydney, owned that stage and their audience to the point where their performance became cultish. Fiercely alluring, front woman Isabella Manfredi was like some sort of ancient Greek goddess, using her voice, eyes and body in a way that left her crowd writhing around on the dance floor. Rather than staring over our heads, she would keep her eyes locked on one individual for half a song. Her seductive gaze was simultaneously arousing and uncomfortable; a paradox that raised one’s intrigue even more.
These punk aficionados –with their black leather jackets, tight pants and doc martens, plus a couple of Stone Roses and Pretenders emblazoned tees – played a particular sound that dips a toe in a number of old-school flavours. On record, they are a rock and roll band dabbling in various pop melodies, but on stage they become so much more. Their theatrics and stage antics are frenzied and uninhibited, performed with an intensity that is reminiscent of ’70s rock and roll decadence. Manfredi fucks you with her eyes and co-vocalist and guitarist Gideon Benson sets your panties alight with his masculine howl. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more authentic, Manfredi’s $1000 leather jacket caught fire, due to it being left near the speakers. “It’s cool though” she remarked, throwing water over the jacket, herself and us. Ah, a true rock and roll performance.
Instrumentally, The Preatures were flawless. Manfredi and Benson’s voices were ridiculously sensual and powerful and their band played off that, showcasing dirty guitar and bass riffs and melodious drum patterns that transitioned swiftly from rock and roll into disco. Manfredi also played keys, creating spooky ’70s organ inspired compositions that took them into a Gothic soul paradigm. Manic Baby and Dark Times were crowd favourites, but it was the hit single Is This How You Feel? that got the audience really swinging. The band’s movements were contagious and soon enough we found ourselves copying the energy of The Preatures. Damn, did it get hot in there!
After they finished, any innocence the audience may have had was irrevocably stripped away. It now belonged to Manfredi and her delectable cult. As far as I’m concerned, she can keep it.
BY DINA AMIN
LOVED: The whole bloody spectacle
HATED: Not being up onstage
DRANK: Sweat
