Back in 2008 when Little Red’s incredible debut album Listen to Little Red hit shelves I would not stop raving about them to my friends until I built up a little group to go see their few gigs at Manning Bar amongst other venues. One of my friends developed a little crush on drummer Taka Honda and ended up dragging us to the Hunter Valley to check them out at a small festival they were headlining.

We ended up seeing them around 5 times that year, and until this current tour I hadn’t seen them in years.

As much hype as was generated by their debut, their sophomore effort, last year’s Midnight Remember, catapulted the Melbourne five-piece into boy band status – swamped by hyperactive teenage girls (and boys) everywhere they would go. Fast-forward to the start of their All Mine tour, their sold-out headline gig at Metro Theatre was no exception – the hysteria was widespread.

I entered the venue to undeniably indie sound of Melbourne’s Worlds End Press and, almost immediately, became a fan. This young band brought so much energy to the stage it was hard to think that they weren’t headlining the night. The sound was an explosion of pulsating dance-rock mixed with unintelligible (at least live) vocals which took a back seat to the gorgeous instrumentals.

Their colourful dancing and fun music obviously went down well with the packed-out venue as they farewelled us to a huge reception – they could have even gotten away with pulling off an encore.

All awe aside, it was Little Red that would, modestly, take back the spotlight by opening with a couple of mellow jams from their sophomore like opener “Get A Life”, which was followed by the beautiful “Slow Motion” accompanied by mood-lighting and a large disco ball to make this feel like a 10th grade formal – complete with braces-laden girls who just could not stop screaming.

Throughout the set the boys balanced down-tempo surf rock with straight rock and roll, depending on which vocalist took the lead. One of the best things about Little Red is that the band can change sounds in the blink of an eye, with three lead vocalists each bringing their own style to the forefront.

To my delight they made a welcome return to their impeccable debut and belted out loveable jams like “It’s Alright” and “Witchdoctor” which conjured up some nostalgia for me as well ensuring that the audience was given the opportunity to bust out their interpretations of old fashioned dance moves like the twist.
As big as they have become, they are still extremely shy when it comes to crowd interaction – something that will no doubt improve with time.

The oh-so-popular “Rock It” made an appearance towards the end of the set. They used to perform an unrefined version of this song years ago and it made quite an impression but I never expected it to be as massive as it has proven to be – kids relaxing on the outskirts of the crowd literally ran to the middle as soon as the opening notes hit, something I rarely see and a testament to how loved this song is.

The three-song encore was the highlight for me, which included a surprise Van Morrison cover as well as the always-fun “Coca Cola” which rounded up the set and closed the night. How can you not love these guys!