Always make it to the gig to see the supporting bands!! Emperors started it all off and were ripping right off the bat, and although there was only a few of us at the barrier, our noggins were banging in unison. I had this feeling that I've heard these kids before. I was close enough to see their set list and I noticed four songs down the annagram S.O.T.Y. which I immediately mistook for "skater of the year" thinking of Thrasher Magazines award for the narliest skater each year. Alas, it was an abreviation for Song Of The Year. My mistake, but the song still fucking ripped!! It wasn't until their last song that it finally clicked and I knew excactly who i was dealing with. They finished with Be Ready When I Say Go and I completely lost my shit! I"ve heard this track on the J's and everytime I listen to it I feel like a super hero. Now I was getting that shit served up live in my face! Fuck Yeah!! I loved these guys and I gotta say thank you to W.A. for sending them over.
A pint and a smoke later Kingswood gallop on stage. These guys are pretty much the best looking bearded band I've ever seen. The first song told me who these lads were. Once again I gotta say thank you to Triple J for playing Aussie music. Without the airways playing all this great music I might have been at a total loss as to who was on stage. I was there for Grinspoon friends, and while I may not be to familiar with the support bands I will now never ever forget them. But I digress, these furry bastards are a serverely tight band. She's my baby got everyone jumping! At one point through their set Fergus (vocals) asked the lighting guy to give them some effects but that shit fell on deaf ears. They carried on rocking none the less in the red glow that was provided. So, upon wrapping their set up with their last song, Fergus jumps off the stage, barrells through the crowd to the front of house desk and gives his bandmates the light show he requested earlier, which set the stage off in an epileptics worst nightmare!! Then he bumrushed his way back up to the front of the barrier and cheered his own goddamn band off the stage while hugging a hapless fan. Legend...
A Jameson's and coke and a smoke. Push back up to the barrier and get ready for the mayhem. We're all condom-close now and I'm fucking loving it. Out the lads parade in all their glory. Phil (sporting suspenders and turquoise finger nails) immediately starts bangin' out all these rad dandy moves that Jarvis Cocker would have been impressed with. I couldn't tell you what they opened with though as I had just copped a flying crotch to the face and was laughing and screaming too hard for cognisent thought. But when they played More Than You Are the crowd and I became a scene out of "The Lord of The Flies", animals, one and all. From Champion to Lost Control they had us frothing and bodies were flying over the barrier like it was some sort of contest. Good onya security for letting us play!! So many rad hits were belted out and I had to realize that these sonsabitches have been playing music together for 18 years. Their timing was awesome, they brought the tempo down to save us from ourselves (the pit that is) with an acoustic version of Just Ace with Phil blowing the harmonica for extra cuteness. This was my cue to slink away to the back and watch the end of it with some civility. I get back to the beer garden and roll one up, bounce off a few grommets that I haven't seen in an age and realize that they are grown ass men now and loving the same tunes as I. But one of the raddest sites for me was watching a troupe of fifty somethings dancing around a table and air guitaring to Hard Act To Follow. Seriously, The Gov was packed with the young and the old and all were there for the same reason. Grinspoon. Thanks Lads, you're my Oprah. There ain't nothing like original live music....
B
P.S. Thank you Tara, I owe you a board chica...
Review by Beau Williams
Photos by Melissa Donato. Full gallery can be seen here
B
P.S. Thank you Tara, I owe you a board chica...
Review by Beau Williams
Photos by Melissa Donato. Full gallery can be seen here
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