This year has been an amazing one for live music in Sydney, especially for yours truly – finally being given the opportunity to see bands that I’ve been listening to since I was a young one! And having missed them last time they were in town (and then having their last tour coinciding with Bluesfest cancelled) Supergrass were no exception. Suffice it to say, I was definitely looking forward to tonight for quite some time.
But first up were two fantastic Australian bands to kick the night off. First up were Cloud Control, who I reviewed last month for the Marrickville Road Festival. I’m a huge fan of these guys, but with it being the fourth or fifth time I’ve seen them over the last year, I’m definitely looking forward to hearing some new stuff! Major props though for their amazing Cloud Control poster in the background (which was just their name written on an A4 piece of paper, placed over the “G” on the Supergrass) and a pretty energetic show as the venue gradually filled up. Much of the faces around me sort of had the “oh wow, these guys are pretty good!” look on their faces too which was fantastic. For anything more I have to say about the band, refer to that earlier review!
Next up was a solo acoustic set from Jae Laffer of The Panics, who mostly performed Panics songs (including, naturally, Don’t Fight It, some of which you can see to your right) and a couple of new tracks. All fantastic, and the 3 or 4 people listening to him were definitely enjoying it. As expected from a crowd full of drunken Poms, they came here to see Supergrass, drink beer, and couldn’t care less about anything else. And thus much beer was consumed in place of enjoying Jae. Fair enough I suppose. Oh well, I certainly enjoyed it, and showed some personal support when he wanted to perform a Bob Dylan track. As Jae himself remarked, it was all probably a bit too quiet for this sort of crowd.
Finally, at twenty to 11, Supergrass launched themselves onto the stage with the opening track off their new LP, “Diamond Hoo Ha Man,” (which you can also view to your right!) and the response from the crowd was deafening. This was a crowd of fans, and while the ones up the front were rather rowdy they were all singing along to every word – even the new stuff, which fans often stick up their noses to. So that was a pleasant surprise, especially when I’m quite a fan of the new album.
The mix of tracks which followed was a fantastic balance of the better songs off the new album and old classics. Some would have been a bit disappointed if they were a big fan of Road to Rouen, however, with St Petersburg the only live track off that album. Personally, despite being rather wounded by the people up the front, I enjoyed every minute of the night. They sounded as tight as ever, and classics like “Caught By The Fuzz” and “Richard III” were definitely highlights of the night (How could they not be!). Naturally, it was the classics that got the most response from the crowd, who were gradually growing in energy (read: drunkenness) through every track that went by, until it finally succumbed to the mosh-pit a fair few were hoping for.
I think it would be hard to say one could have left this gig disappointed – you definitely heard quite a few of your favourite tracks, they played incredibly well in the hour-and-a-half-plus time they graced the stage, and the energy of the audience was fantastic in its own right. It only took me 8 years of being a fan to finally see them, but now that it has happened, I have another band I can tick off my ever-shortening “to see” list.
