LIVE REVIEW: Rose Carleo Band – supporting Livewire at The Old Courthouse, Fremantle - The Rockpit, Mark Diggins

9 Nov 2025

There’s something fitting about watching Rose Carleo belt out the blues-rock gospel in a place with as much history and grit as The Old Courthouse, Fremantle. The room itself is steeped in stories — it even contains the very dock where Bon Scott once stood to be sentenced — and on this night, its walls pulsed again with the spirit of Australian rock ‘n’ roll. The venue’s stunning acoustics and atmospheric lighting made it the perfect setting for a band that plays as hard and as honestly as the Rose Carleo Band.

From the moment Rose stepped up to the mic, that powerhouse voice filled the room — smoky, soulful, and unrelenting. Teamed with the formidable Mick Adkins on guitar, the pair led their band through a set that burned with chemistry and conviction. Bassist Bill Kervin (Dragon) and drummer Mick O’Shea (whose résumé reads like a who’s who of Australian rock) provided the kind of muscular groove that makes everything feel bigger, heavier, and downright irresistible.

The band dug deep into their 2018 Battle Scars EP, delivering songs that blend blues grit with arena-sized swagger. But it was the new material that really showed where this juggernaut is headed. “Daisy’s Song” brought a slinky, soulful pulse before the set closed with “Son of God” — a song written for Ross Young, the son of Malcolm Young and a close friend of the band. It’s a track built around a bubbling bassline, a huge hook, and a crunching riff that hits like a hammer. Due for release as their next single in January, it’s destined to become a live staple — a true statement of intent ahead of their upcoming album.

Rose Carleo commands the stage like she was born to it — the voice, the stance, the raw emotion — and with Adkins’ searing solos and the band’s road-hardened rhythm section behind her, it’s easy to see why Murray Engleheart once called her “the next Queen of Australian rock.”

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