Rose Tattoo & The Poor @ The Dalrymple Hotel – A Night of Riffs, Rants, and Rock 'n' Roll - Aug 29th 2025

Rose Tattoo @ The Daly

If you wandered into the Daly expecting a quiet night of gentle acoustic ballads, you were about to be spectacularly disappointed—and possibly deafened. The Poor, Darwin’s finest purveyors of sonic mayhem, kicked off the evening with a set that could have registered on the Richter scale. Their guitarist shredded through ear-splitting solos with such ferocity that at one point he ditched the pick and played with his teeth. Hendrix would’ve nodded in approval.

The Poor @ The Daly - No more wine thanks!

“More Wine Waiter Please” was a clear crowd favourite, though judging by the volume of beer being consumed, the wine waiter may have been on strike. The lead singer attempted to leap onto a lighting beam mid-song, presumably to channel his inner Tarzan, but physics had other plans. He fell with the grace of a sack of bricks, only to reappear moments later standing triumphantly on the bar, belting out the next verse like nothing had happened.

Then came the main event: Rose Tattoo, fronted by the indestructible Angry Anderson, who at 78 years old still performs like he’s trying to out-scream a jet engine. With his signature gravelly wail, Angry tore through a set list that could’ve been titled “Songs With ‘Boy’ or ‘Rock’ in Them.” We got Bad Boy for Love, One of the Boys, Nice Boys, Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw, Rock 'n' Roll is King, and The Radio Said Rock 'n' Roll is Dead.

Angry didn’t just sing—he also sermonised. Between songs, he launched into passionate rants about everything from Australia’s immigration policy to gender fluidity, the treatment of bands when touring including some harsh criticism of their hotel rooms, and even McDonald’s, which he declared “another form of poison.” Somewhere in there, We Can’t Be Beaten turned into a full-blown protest anthem, complete with an impromptu intermission that felt like a rally. Bob Katter would've fitted in nicely.

The crowd was a glorious mix of denim vests, faded tattoos, and people who looked like they hadn’t missed a Rose Tattoo gig since 1983. A few got a bit too feisty and had to be escorted out or at least supported as they staggered their way through the crowd. Angry asked who had been at their last Townsville gig two years ago, then called them “masochists” for coming back to be “assaulted” again. No one disagreed.

A particularly amusing visual contrast was Angry standing next to his towering lead guitarist - the height difference was so stark it looked like a rock 'n' roll version of David and Goliath. When the band left the stage and the ugly lights came on, we all stumbled out into the night with ringing ears, and the satisfied grin of having survived a few hours of unapologetic Aussie pub rock.