Donny Benet | Rosemount | ★ ★ ★ ½
It would be easy to take Donny Benet at face value. He is, after all, a middle aged balding dude who makes music videos of himself, his gloriously hairy chest bared, dancing next to a dam that stands in for Santorini. But this isn’t some ironic hipster love of bad fashion and cheesy dance moves – he obviously has a genuine love for this sound. Live, his 80s synth pop vibe is on point, and within seconds of Donny and his besuited band taking the stage the till then sober crowd packing Rosemount’s Main Room had left their inhibitions aside and were dancing like maniacs.
This, more than anything else, is what Donny is about – having fun.
Em Burrows and the Web Rumours are the reason you should rock up early for the support bands. Playing old and new tracks – including the excellent Boy from the 2018 release Invisible Seams – Em is a half hidden Perth treasure we should be shouting about more. Demon Days found their feet after a couple of false starts and technical difficulties which if they hadn’t apologised for so much would not have been as noticeable. The neo-soul band is responsible for one of the classiest odes to the Midland postcode in history with 6056 and Disco Baby was the perfect segue to Donnys set.
Sometime during Konichiwa a couple of punters began baying for him to take his shirt off. Donny politely refused – he only does that in his videos apparently, and live we should be happy with his art and the music. And really – the music is pretty damn good.
In all, a very danceable night out at the Rosemount.
Rebecca Bowman
