Terrific treble charger a scream at Opera House
treble charger, at the Opera House, November 29. Tickets: $10. Attendance: 800 (sold out). Rating: NNNN [out of 5 N's]
Stepping on stage to pirecing squeals at the Opera House Friday, the members of treble charger could have been forgiven for imagining that girly magnets Bush X had entered the room. Nothing is as discombobulating as unfiltred adoration, especially comming from a hometown crowd after months spent toiling in the studio and deflecting flack about parting ways with a longtime member.
But if at first it seemed proof of the old cliche that all-ages crowds will scream for anything with guitars, the enthusiasm was unquestionable by the time the group kicked into the song Morale and the whole friggin' downstairs floor started popping up and down like buoys in a tempest. This wasnt the glee of catching the free merchandise the group pitched out from the stage, either - this was a moment.
Cheeky, charismatic bassist Rosie Martin and wild-eyed singer/guitarist Greig Nori led by example, attacking farmiliar songs with zeal and keeping a gag about scalped tickets spinning overhead throughout the show. Singer/guitarist Bill Priddle consientiously lobbied for the serious end of the emotional scale, providing enough stoic reserve to make their (so far) signature song Red a moist-eyed beacon of lost love.
Though stalwarty unassuming offstage, new drummer Trevor MacGregor was a presence in concert, cracking the skins with force and leaving the evenings high jinks to those with microphones. Walk on appearances by horn players and manegement mate Emm Gryner were nice but unnecessary - treble charger was the goods, and anything else was window dressing.
Not even the dead exciting triumvirate of Even Grable, Red and Morale diminsished the impact of sparkling new material, which the group craftily stitched into the set at key moments of rapture. With a new disk set for spring, the new year looks a little bit brighter already.
- By Kim Hughes Now Magazine Dec 5th 1996
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