Imogen Brave
Open Heart CD Launch
Enigma Bar, Adelaide
1st October 2011

By Rachel Haniford

From the moment of hearing that Imogen Brave had decided to head into the studio for the recording their debut CD ‘Open Heart’ it was clear that this was going to be a milestone for not only the band themselves, but also the strong fan base.

Having seen Imogen Brave play many successful gigs, I was left wondering, just what would the night of their CD launch have in store for the fans. As it turns out, they had a hell of a night in store for us.

After arriving at the venue and entering the room, you could feel the atmosphere and anticipation of the crowd that had already come in and were ready for the night to begin.

Imogen Brave had carefully selected local artist Jimmy Martin and pop / rock band Vanity Era to get the crowd kick started for their big night. The crowd eased into the music as more people began to arrive and in almost no time at all there was quite a packed house, which came as absolutely no surprise.

The band came onto to the stage and was greeted with many cheers and whistles by the waiting fans.

Stef Crowley (vocals) with her energetic and sexy stage presence kicked off the amazing 16 song set list ripping into “Destroy You”.

Andy Cienciala (drums), Mick McClounan (guitars) and Neil Pearce (bass) were on fire, holding together a very tight set right through out the night, there was literally nothing that could be faulted, and to see them power through songs such as “Missing You Dearly” (as featured on the “Open Heart” CD) and “Breaking You Down” it was obvious that Imogen Brave had put a lot of preparation into making sure that no one was going to walk away disappointed… but then again, from previous experience, I doubt it took much trying!

It was great to see not only people getting into the music, but also many people taking photos and video footage of this special occasion.

The set list was well constructed as it kept a nice even flow of songs through out the show and some crowd favourites and also some that came with special dedications.

Imogen Brave closed with “Desperate Lines” while taking the time to thank the support bands, friends and family and everyone who had helped make the night possible.

Just as we thought it was all over, the crowd was not ready to finish just yet, and there was massive amounts of cheers and whistles for an encore, it didn’t take much to twist the bands arms to get just a couple more songs out to make the night complete.

With an encore consisting of “Right With You” and “Love Is Like (Open Heart)” (also featured on the “Open Heart” CD), the band decided to close the night with a ‘bang’ by popping balloons filled with glitter over fellow band member Mick and then over some of the crowd members who were at the front of the stage, this was definitely a sparkling way to round off a memorable evening.

Imogen Brave were more than happy to help in assisting fans with buying merchandise afterwards and you could see on their faces they were happy with the outcome of the evening while looking around and seeing them bright and bubbly and talking happily to fans who had come along… I personally don’t think this is going to be the last CD launch we will be attending for Imogen Brave!

Review and photos by Rachel Haniford