Pollyanna
Triple J Roof-top, Melbourne, 9 August 1999
by Jaymin

As soon as one of my friends called me up on the weekend and told me that i was going to see Pollyanna Live At The Wireless on Monday night for free, i thought "yeah right, whats the catch?" but there was no catch. As most of you guys know, i think Pollyanna are a sensational band and i would watch and listen to them live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if i could. Anyway, enough of my pointless crap.

Tickets said to be there at 8pm, so of course everyone rocked up then thinking they might start a bit earlier for the live audience but it wasn't to be. Instead, we got to listen to the Motorace EP on repeat for the first 45 minutes and then JJJ for the next 10 before Pollyanna came out.

At this time the 100 odd people were all sitting on the floor which was one of the most subdued things i've eve seen. Now i know why alcohol is readily supplied at gigs becoz we were all falling asleep. The guys came out and looked at us and said "You guys can't be for real, you can sit for our warm up, but then you are getting up!"

They played a 'sound check song' which was 'Frayed' i think. It was good quality....so the night begun with Caroline Tran looking like she had just woken up coming out on stage and introducing the band. Now if you haven't been to a Pollyanna gig before you are missing out because Matt Handley's vocals are just amazing. He seems to have a shy sort of appeal on stage but once putting his voice into use, he is brilliant.

First up was S.S.A.E followed by the next single (i am guessing) Black Bear. Now i can't remember the exact order of the songs so i won't make it up becoz most of you would have been listening and you'll probably correct me.

Glenn (the drummer) was extremely funny and he was the one doing most of the talking during the night making all sorts of strange weird comments. Rayke was much more talkative than she has been previously which was good becuase shes really cool!!

Pollyanna have a new addition to the band as well Ash or Ace as he was called is the keyboardest as many of the songs on Delta City Skies have keys running through them. He seemed to fit in pretty well.

The highlight tracks of the night were 'Feeding Circle' which is just a senstational song, Cinnamon Lip with Rayke's vocals and of course Brittle Then Broken which they finished with. It was a different kind of gig to the norm with many underage people present. You should have seen some of them trying to mosh to Feeding Circle...it was a sad sad sight. But i guess thats what you can expect.

They finished the night by making themselves available for autographs and a chat which was really cool too. They are touring very shortly with ben Folds Five and then with Bluebottle Kiss later this year. Make sure you look out for them because they are an awesome live band!!!

Ben