Concerts I Have Been To

. This list was started on the 17th July 1997

• The Fauves, Finiscad, Knievel - Friday in November - The Globe Newtown. Got in early in order to see Knievel. Finiscad were most impresive and the Favues were legends as always. It ended up being a real good night with Heidi, Julie, Andrew, Sam, Sonya, Trev, Nick and Mark rockin' out. On Andrews suggestion we stopped off at an awesome late night pizza place on the way home. yummy!
• Jebediah, Fur, Beaverloop - Thursday 30th of August 1997 - Macquarie Uni bar - Sydney. The Bar was packed for this gig. Just caught the end of Beaverloop who seemed to be having a good time. Fur seemed to be a lot gentler a beast this evening, something which I personally think suits them. Jebediah jumped on stage overflowing with energy and enthusiasm, my first thought was geez they look young, but that was soon forgotten as Scott started a mosh that was to last for the rest of the night. Jebediah played all the radio hits and most of the songs of their album Slightly Odway. They were extremely entertaining and I couldn't think of a better place to see them than the Uni bar. A perfect sized mosh and no crowd surfers made for good vision, funky dancing and lots of loud, out of key singing. Afterwards Heidi and Scott headed backstage to get their newly bought Jebediah T-shirts signed. This proved to be an adventure in itself.
• Webster - Thursday 23rd of October 1997 - Macquarie Uni bar - Sydney. Uni Semester is back and so are the bands. Heidi and I turned up ready for a big night and were quite disappointed by the extremely small crowd. Webster who have some huge support gigs coming up (i.e. Powderfinger and Big Heavy Stuff) were definitely upset if not humble about the dismal crowd. They thanked us all individually for showing up and the 12 of us responded with a Mexican wave. Despite this, they seemed to have a bloody good time and so god dammit did I. Websters' music is the rockier side of You Am I and the poppier side of Powderfinger and in between songs they were almost as funny as The Welcome Mat. A big wrap I know, but I recommend turning up early enough to see Webster at a gig near you!
• The superjesus, Spiderbait, Reef, Ben Folds Five, Leonardos Bride, Cake, Powderfinger, Rebecca's Empire, BodyJar, Dave Graney and The Coral Snakes, Dinosaur Jnr., Devo, Millencolin - The Livid Festival - Saturday 4th of October 1997 - Brisbane showgrounds - Brisbane.
• Bush, Grinspoon, The Bloodhound Gang and Veruca Salt - Free Concert for The Sydney City Mission - Saturday 27th of September - Prince Alfred Park - Sydney. What a cool thing to do on a Saturday. Too cool to believe that it was totally free. Among the 20,000 people that attend were Heidi, Benny and his mate Trent. Veruca Salt played some really catchy tunes on some really cool guitars so it was a shame that they suffered some technical problems, I'll make sure I see them at Livid. The Bloodhound Gang are a bunch of tools and I didn't like them at all. Every single they played was at least in part borrowed from another artist, and while I'm a big fan of covers, The Bloodhound gang didn't seem to do the songs any justice (especially Rancids Fire Water Burn). Grinspoon once again kicked arse and drew a mad crowd especially when they were playing their well known singles. In between bands we were entertained by some local randoms doing some mad tricks with fire. As the sun was setting and with the Sydney Skyline as a background Bush hit the stage. Bush are a top class band and it was unbelievable to be able to see them for free! I had heard rumours that bush were quite a boring band to see live, but that was far from the case tonight. They seemed to be having heaps of fun. Glycerine was played solo and sounded incredible. Other songs that went off were Little Things and Everything Zen. Coolest cover song of the day was Pretty Vacant performed by Bush. Not a bad day out for free. I think the city mission made about $27000 for the day!! Oh yeah coolest score of the day was when Benny scored a guitar pick from Bush. ROCK ON!!
• Grinspoon and Non-Intentional Lifeform - The Road Rage tour and part of the Pacific Rim Music Convention - Tuesday the 23rd of September 1997 - Annandale Hotel (Sold out) - Sydney. Ozza and That Man Tate joined me for a trip to the Annandale Hotel to see the Road Rage Tour. Non-Intentional Lifeform fronted by an Irishman who sounds like he is putting on an Irish accent, are a cross between tool and rage against the machine. The guitarist apart from playing the guitar also played the trombone and a mandolin (which sounded awesome through a marshal amp). Non-Intentional Lifeform are a band that are at the bottom of the ladder starting the climb up, Grinspoon are also a band on the way up the ladder but are rocking ahead with great speed. Grinspoon simply kicked arse tonight. The crowd was fired up (especially Tate) and so was the band. I really liked the song that started out "Were you neurotic as a child" the singer has a really awesome voice under all that gravel. Hey OE before they played champion he said "this song was written about a friend I use to go to school with, a guy who scored a lot of tries for Wauchope!!" What's the story there?? Do you know any of the dudes from Grinspoon or what? Anyway I recommend that you see Grinspoon soon before they become way to big to fit in the Annandale.
• The Presidents of the United States of America, Custard and Mr Blonde - Conception Day night - Friday the 19th of September 1997 - Macquarie Uni bar - Sydney. A full line up of Quirky Bands tonight. Only managed to catch a small bit of Mr Blonde, they seemed OK but nothing more. Custard played a lot of songs off their new album We Have the Technology so they didn't have that sing-a-long feel that they normally do. Highlight of the set was when the drummer got up to sing two songs. Up next were PUSA. I have to say I wasn't all that gee'd up to see The Presidents, I mean they don't really seem to sing about anything and for some reason that bothers me. But to my surprise they Rocked, Rocked like a bunch of geeks playing to a bunch of young girls, but they still Rocked. The Presidents songs were made to be played live. They have a very catchy feel and by the second chorus you already know all the words. As a result the crowd was really pumped up and sang along to every song (Heidi included) The band seemed to be loving every moment of it and looked like they were having a great time. Needless to say the crowd went absolutely berserk when they played Lump, Kitty, Peaches, Dune Buggy, Volcano, that new single (Whatever its called) and a very funny cover of Soundgardens Spoonman. Funnily enough the Presidents actually played Video Killed the Radio Star and even funnier it sounded great (Its the song I was humming after I left the gig!!). I have to say the bass player (The bald guy who sings) had one of the coolest Bass Guitars I have ever seen. It was a Flying V guitar (not a bass guitar) with the bottom four machine heads removed and two Bass strings connected to the remaining two. Very Cool. Quote of the night "I am the stallion"
• The Porkers - Conception Day - Friday the 19th of September 1997 - Macquarie Uni outside near the Lake - Sydney. I might have managed to miss out on almost all of the bands that played at this years Conception Day, bands such as Nancy Vandal, Front End Loader, and Sidewinder, but at least I managed to catch the mighty Porkers. Once again in fine form but disappointingly lacking the special skills Porkman, the Porkers got the crowd skanking in a furious manner. At one stage they even threatened to play Video Killed the radio star. Randoms in the Mosh included Tim (Fellow Knox Soccer team member) and Muscat (aka Steve).
• Kim Salmon and The Surrealists - Thursday 11th of September 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. Famous look alike - Kim Salmon = Matt Braily in 20 years.
• BodyJar and The Living End - Thursday 4th of September 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. The bands turning up to the Macquarie Uni bar just keep getting better and better, with tonight's bands being the pick of the bunch so far. With BodyJar having just returned from a lengthy tour of Canada and the USA, and The Living End just about to release a new EP, the "bigger than normal" crowd was pumped for a high powered evening. We were not to be disappointed because with OZZA half pissed and wearing his bloody blue beanie, it was never going to be a boring night! The Living End returning for their 4th tour of Sydney were in awesome form. A 3 piece that includes a stand up bass, The Living End play a blend of SKA and rockabilly (aka Skankabilly) that makes you want to jump up and down and strum your air guitar. Stand out songs were English Army, The New Single (Its actually on the radio right now as I write this) and From Here On In, but it wasn't till the 2nd last song, a cover of The Cures 10:15 Saturday Night (Nice call OE) that the crowd moved forward to fill the void at the foot of the stage. The band worked themselves into a frenzy, with the bass player standing up on his double bass, and the guitar player braking his strap. A short bass and drum solo later and then they launched back into the song at top speed. The Living End put on an awesome show and I can't wait to see them again.*** I thought I would take advantage of the break between bands to go and buy myself a Living End T-shirt. In front of me in the line was this half pissed, super enthusiastic, super random, South Korean dude. He bought the first Living End EP and went up to the guitarist telling him how hard they rocked. Gushing with enthusiasm, dribbling with excitement and screaming in his intoxicated state he got the Living End guy to sign his CD. He then started singing "From Here on In, Laa, la, li, la" which with his accent and drunken slur couldn't have sounded funnier. When the Living End guy stopped laughing he told him that that song was on the other EP. The South Korean dude went quiet for about 2 seconds (That's 1.5 seconds longer than he had kept quiet for before) then he threw the CD back over the counter and demanded the other EP. I couldn't resist the opportunity so I bought the old EP(signed to Gin Su Lee) just for the memory. Anyway back to the bands. ***BodyJar were in awesome form tonight. Fresh from their OS tour (and a spot on recovery) they blazed away with both barrels of there twin guitar driven punk assault hitting the bullseye on every song. Midway through the set, the random South Korean guy started goin' off up the front with a beer in his hand. A security guard wanting him to put his beer on the bench at the side of the bar, grabbed him and his beer. There was an awkward moment till the South Korean dude realised what was going on. He then gave the security guard, who needless to say hated it, a big hug, he then bounded back up to the front of the stage. Like I said before BodyJar were as tight as you could possibly like. Memorable songs included The New Single (whatever it's called) plus a cover of Paul Simons Hazy Shade of Winter (made notorious by the Bangles(I think)) and a cover of They Might Be Giants Racist Friend ie "This is were the party ends, cause I can't stand hear listening to you and your racist friend". I gotta say I'm a big fan of cover songs. Anyway the song of the night had to be the very last one. Midway through this song a different random (this guy had been at the front of the stage all night) jumped up on stage for a second and then jumped off. Prompted by the bass player, he jumped back on stage and proceeded to sing the rest of the song. BodyJars' singer sung along till he realised that this random new all the words and could hold the tune. It was a champion effort that I could only imagine happening at the Uni Bar. The bands finished there was nothing left to do but for OZZA to harass some chicks, and for Sideshow (aka Mal) to be kicked out. I grabbed a poster off the wall and got a lift home with Gobbo (aka Simon). An awesome night. Oh yeah something that I thought was pretty cool was that the guitarists of both bands had removed the ll out of Marshall, and so were playing through Marsha Amps. (Pretty cool huh Gav?)
• Bluebottle Kiss - Thursday 21st of August 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. After last nights lack lustre performance by The Earthman I was blown away by Bluebottle Kiss. I was so impressed in fact I went out and bought their new EP the very next day. If I was ever going to be in a band I imagine it would be a band like bluebottle kiss. Everything about the band is so cool, from the sombre introspective lyrics to the very impressive collection of guitars (including an old SG and a fender jaguar (I think)). If you ever get the chance grab a couple of bourbons and head yourself off to a bluebottle kiss gig!
• The Mavis's and The Earthmen - Wednesday 20th of August 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. I have been a long time waiting to see The Earthmen. Wayne Connelly of Knievel and The Welcome Mat fame use to constantly wear an Earthman shirt so I had it figured that they would be pretty good. Unfortunately THEY JUST DIDN'T DO IT FOR ME. I mean they were excellent musicians and fine tune smiths but there was a definite lack of urgency and risk in their music that made it sound (at least to my ears) bland and boring. Needless to say I was very disappointed when the Mavis's also failed to inspire me with their eighties style ambivalent rock. It was still a good night though and sure beat the hell out of sitting around watching TV.
• Okesmay - Tuesday 12th of August 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. Heat 8 of the NAD Campus band competition. Tonight was Okesmays' debut performance. The band line up included local rock heroes Raj (aka Rajithia Sennayke) and Ed (aka Edward Knight) .Although Okesmay didn't get the green light from the judges, they were the definite crowd favourites. Okesmays' set consisted of five diverse originals ranging in style from Reggae through to the death metal esque Power of the Bullet (Which saw Raj taking over drumming duties, albeit with only one stick). My favourite song had to be Little Reggae Song (Title?) which show cased the talents of Rajs' voice and Eds' lead guitar melodies. Little Reggae Song's catchy sing a long chorus left the crowd chanting for more. Unfortunately due to the time restraints of the competition they couldn't play any more. We can only hope that Okesmay will play again in the not to distant future.
• You Am I, The Fauves and The John Reed Club - Saturday 9th of August 1997 - Selinas - Sydney. Heidi saw this same line up on Friday night in Newcastle, she informed me that it was an impressive show not to be missed. So Dogboy (aka OE), Ginny (aka Steve Lynch), Sideshow (aka Malcolm Hart) and a couple of college randoms took off to Selinas riding an increasing wave of anticipation. We arrived at Coogee with just enough time to have a bite to eat sitting on Coogee beach. It was then time to head off into Selinas to witness what was to become a night of fender amps and rickenbacker guitars. The first band up was The John Reed Club, they put on a good show and reminded me of a cross between early You Am I and Redd Kross. The band seemed to enjoy the crowds support and appeared comfortable on the big stage. Definitely worth seeing again. Next band up were personal favourites of mine The Fauves. They quickly proved to be in fine form. Andy Cox once again cemented his position as the funniest man in Indie Rock. Before launching into a brand new, never before heard song he stated "We are going to treat this one like Mark Taylor bringing on Ricky Pointing for a coupe of overs. Possible chance of getting a wicket but at worst he'll only get hit for a couple of 4 or 5 run overs". The song proved to be a wicket with the crowd. Other wicket taking songs included Self Abuser and Dogs are the best people. My personal favourites were the quiet, gentle, sing a long moments of Kyuss "Crank it up I really like this bit. Fuck that riff sounds really sick" and the jammed out version of Dwarf on Dwarf. My only critical comment is that they didn't play any where near long enough. After the awesome rendition of Everyone's getting a 3 piece together at Equinox I was desperate to hear it again, I would have liked to hear Skateboard World Record for laughs as well. Ahh but what can you do??? There was only enough time before You Am I came on for LightFoot (aka Sam Turner) to stupidly utter the words "I'll give anyone who licks that $10" within ear shot of OE, whose eyes lit up and tongue lashed out without even a flinch. If only Sam had known about OEs dark past. Back inside we found that Selinas had somehow shrunk as there was suddenly no room to move. Before anyone had time to complain BANG You Am I Hit the stage, with all guns blazing. I was simply blown away by how good they have become. In my humble opinion they have to be currently one of the best bands in Indie rock anywhere. They have the look - Tim Rogers enjoyed paying out Andy Kents Supermodel looks. They have the moves - you just got to love those windmill guitar strums. The attitude - Tim Rogers has never been afraid to speak his mind, and the sound - boy o boy did they sound good. They were sound as ever. Adams Ribs and Cathys Clown were awesome but the show stopper was Tim Rogers doing the Billy Bragg thing and playing solo Purple Sneakers "I took a personality pill, and something red to swill" (nice fats).The crowd joined in and sung along, but when Tim Rogers went off, he really went off, and left everybody standing with their jaws dropped open in amazement. Absolutely legendary. Later after the always present encore a small but hardy group called out for more. It was a shame that more people didn't join us as I could have listened all night. A damn fine gig! After that all that was left to do was to drop Lightfoot (aka Sam), lizard man (aka Mark) and 'Drives with high beams on' (his Indian name) (aka Nick) off at Maroubra then back home to bed, ears ringing in delight.
• No-Asis - Thursday 7th of August 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. A crappy cover band maybe, but I still had a good time. A drunken sing along was the basic theme of the night with No-Asis playing all of Oasis' hits plus a collection of other Brit songs (Best of these was Blurs - Song 2). Quote of the Night "This song is dedicated to Stuart Diver. Someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide in a champagne supernova in the sky"
• The Porkers and the Simpletons - Thursday 31st of July 1997 - Macquarie Uni Bar - Sydney. The Simpletons put on a pretty good show playing a set full of the magical pop songs that gets them so much coverage on Triple J. But the band everyone was pumped to see was those masters of SKA and SKANK Newcastle's own The Porkers. The Porkers have played at the Uni at least three times now and this was about the sixth time I had seen them play. But it was the first time I had seen them without the mighty Pork Man apparently he was in trouble for a driving infringement or something??? Anyway the remaining Porkers still managed to rip out their fine brand of SKA, that got a good sized crowd up and dancing. Thirsty work doing the skank, so a quick stop at the bar before heading back on in to the mosh. An awesome gig that left me puffing and panting and with a huge smile on my face!
• Grinspoon - Saturday 26th July 1997 - Friday's Flat Bistro Bar - Thredbo. On a four day holiday to the snow I was stoked by the level of energy that everyone seems to have. Everyone gets up early to ski and then stays out late to party. Tonight was no exception. We stayed at home drinking till about 10pm I then drove up to Thredbo (I wasn't drinking) we got out of the car into the cold night air, and then walked into the charged up atmosphere of the Friday Flat Bistro Bar. Tonight's gig was accompanied by a Sambuca promotion so everyone at the place was in a pretty good mood by the time the band came on. Grinspoons' hardcore music suited the atmosphere and soon a pretty good mosh for a small venue had started. The stage was only knee height so security were kept busy keeping everyone off the stage. The band was in pretty good form and the singer was just awesome. He has a huge voice for such a little weeny dude that makes lines like "So you wanna be a champion" absolutely kick arse. I have to say I am a fan of bands that cover cool songs, Grinspoon made me smile when they belted out the theme to Cheers ("Where everybody knows your name" ?? ). I was just getting pumped up when they left the stage. They came back on for one more song and then left for good, the whole gig only lasting about 50 minutes which was a damn shame. Grinspoon are definitely worth seeing its just a shame they didn't play for longer.
• Pavement - Wednesday 23rd July 1997 - The Metro - Sydney. This was a sold out gig and I didn't have a ticket. I was just lucky enough that a friend rang me up, after work saying he had a spare ticket. Having seen Pavement a few years ago at the SummerSault Festival I jumped at the chance to see them play their own show. The night was marred by the fact that a mate of mine was barred entry to the venue due to "Lack of valid ID" which was a total crock of shit. He had a valid NSW drivers license that he has used to get into a thousand pubs, now all of a sudden it wasn't good enough. What can you do? Nothing :( . Anyway sadly leaving our mate outside to fend for himself and try and sneak a way in, we headed into the packed out Metro.
  Pavement performed their quirky indie pop with a passion and had no trouble milking the most out of each song by jamming it out. My Faves of the night were Range Life and Stereo I was disappointed that they didn't play Golden Soundz or Cut Your Hair - but what can you do? All in all an excellent way to spend a Wednesday night. (As long as you've got ID).
• Powderfinger, Big Heavy Stuff, Jebediah - Friday 11th July 1997 - The Metro - Sydney. An impressive line up. Three really cool bands that I haven't seen in a while, in a really cool venue. Jebadiah were up first and performed an energetic set. I just can't get enough of "Jerks of Attention". Then came Big Heavy Stuff they were the band I had come to see. I was keen to see what affect the addition of former Daisy Grinder Adam Young to the band would make. Big Heavy Stuff were in fine form playing a lot of songs off Maximum Sincere. May, Covered in Bruises and Maximum Sincere were my favourite songs of an awesome set that was somehow both Big and Heavy and yet soft and fragile. Having only seen Powderfinger in recent times at the big outdoor festivals Home Bake and The Big Day Out I had forgotten what a wonderful sound they can produce. In the intimate surroundings of the Metro Powderfinger kicked of their set with JC. Bernard's voice was just amazing. I was captivated from then on in as the band played most of the songs of the Double Allergic album, they played a few new tunes and through in a cover of the Police song ?????????. Overall a great night.

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