I first heard about Asteroid B612 from when they played with the Dragons at the Casbah in San Diego sometime in the late ’90s. Unfortunately, it was a weekday and I just didn’t feel like going out to see the Dragons for the 200th time when I had to work the next morning. Man, do I wish I could redo that (for many reasons). The next day, Mario from the Dragons was telling me that they just played with the “greatest band” and that “They’re going to be huge one day!” Mario rarely raves about other bands like that to me, so I knew I missed something special. Here’s a little lesson for everyone: Never miss out seeing a live show due to work. Years later, you’ll never remember that day of work you went to, but the memories of the live show could last a lifetime.
And this was a hard lesson to learn. Asteroid B612 are a powerhouse of riff driven rock ala the MC5 or the Stooges, but with way louder guitars, and with what I like to call that classic “Australian bounce”. Right up my alley. I should’ve taken the chance to see them when I could’ve back in the day. So when they reunited, released a new album, and were playing their first shows in 25 years, it was one of the few deciding factors for us to hop on a plane and go to Australia again this year.
Swedish Magazines opened the show and were really good! A solidly rockin’ outfit. AC/DC-ish boogie rock. They got a few albums on bandcamp that are certainly worth checking out!
Live, Asteroid B612 were simply amazing! The song selection was great! I don’t know if I could’ve come up with a better setlist, which is an incredibly rare thing for me to say about any live performance from any band. They threw in a few new songs, which easily could be on any “best of” Asteroid B612 playlist, and a few covers, including “Is It My Body?” from Alice Cooper and “Down On The Street” from the Stooges. I think the drummer and bassist were part brought in from Spain (hence the Johnny Casino & the Secrets gig the night before at the Last Chance Rock n Roll Saloon) and Johnny Casino was on fire once again, playing some smokin’ leads while the band mercilessly rocked.
Pictures don’t really do this band any justice for their powerful live show, so here’s some video of them showing their Chuck Berry influence with “Danny’s Sister”:
And some pictures:
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