Rose Tattoo Still Can’t Be Beaten…

Even if one hasn’t heard of the Australian band “Rose Tattoo”, Angry Anderson is a man who generally gains instant recognition. His image – a 5”1’, bald man highly decorated in bright tattoos – is easily identified.
On Saturday night at The Tempo Hotel in Brisbane, Gary Stephen “Angry” Anderson was the first person I recognised in the establishment.

Anderson first joined Rose Tattoo as their lead singer in 1976. Rocking out classic metal hits such as “Bad Boy For Love”, “Rock N Roll Outlaw” and “Nice Boys (Don’t Play Rock N Roll)” from their first self titled album, it was clear that Rose Tattoo had a sound and live stage presence that would capture hard core metal fans.
“Scarred For Life” in 1982 brought us the classic hit “We Can’t Be Beaten” which soared up the Aussie music charts.
Anderson led the band through 13 singles before disbanding in 1987 and going solo.

Some fans say his solo career was somewhat embarrassing, especially in 1987 when he released the ballad “Suddenly” which was used as a wedding theme in the TV Soap Opera “Neighbours”.
This song, however, introduced Anderson to the ‘main stream’ audience, his image appearing on the popular single and into most Australian households.

After two solo albums, fans were thankful when Rose Tattoo reformed in 1998, releasing a live album “25 To Life” in 2000.
“Pain”, their first studio album in 16 years, was released in 2002 and “Blood Brothers” in 2007.

I was excited to hear that Rose Tattoo were touring again in December this year, so rocked along to their gig in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley on Saturday 17th of December.

Tonight’s set concentrated on the “Pain” and “Blood Brothers” albums, bringing down the energy a notch with their blues influence, rather than the hard rock’n’roll that the Tatts are famous for.

Anderson has tonnes of character on stage, often chatting between songs and explaining what the songs are about. He facial expressions whilst singing could be dubbed his ‘trademark’, along side his famous tattoos.

The last three songs of the evening (unofficially their ‘encore’, as Rose Tattoo doesn’t do encores) had The Tempo’s moshpit heaving with “Scarred”, “We Can’t Be Beaten” and “Nice Boys”.
On more than one occasion during this medley was I almost glassed in the face by the hard moshing punter beside me but managed to survive the last 20 minutes unscathed and jumping up and down for more tunes.

Highlights for me included songs “1854”, “Black Eyed Bruiser”, “House of Pain”, “Bad Boy For Love” and the rocking unofficial encore set.
What a blast!

Rose Tattoo Official Website:
http://www.rosetattoo.com.au/

Rose Tattoo on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/RoseTattoo

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