Gig Review: Grinspoon - Hellenic Club

I love seeing live music, but I must admit I don't get out to see as many bands as I would like. However, I always make an effort to see an Aussie act that I really want to see. Some of my favourite Aussie bands to see live are The Screaming Jets, Regurgitator, Spiderbait, Hoodoo Gurus, Powderfinger and now I am add Grinspoon to that list. The Hellenic Club had the olympic buzz about it, with the huge TV screens showing 24/7 Olympics. But when I got there on Friday arvo, the club was full of half and fully soused Public Servants, who hadn't gone back to work after their Friday lunches. After throwing 20 bucks down a pokie, I met up with some mates and we had a few brews. Then we decided to go and have a feed before the main act started. We rocked on over to the bistro at the Hellenic (which is pretty huge). I just waltzed on in and grabbed a table (there were a few around). After sitting there for a little bit, I noticed that there was a queue up just before entering the bistro. Hmmm...Maybe I should have lined up there first. A couple of the boys had gone up to order, and 2 minutes later a noticeably agitated woman says to me and a couple of others at the table, "Ummm..did you just walk in and take this table?" I felt like I had successfuly stolen something and proudly said, "Yeah..." We were subsequently booted off, and because the restaurant was for bookings only that evening, we had to go elsewhere. Fortunately there was another restaurant upstairs where we squeezed in and got a decent Greek feed. Grinspoon had 2 supports. First up was Me the Conqueror. They are a local act who have played some big gigs around the place. Unfortunately when they were booming, I was still wolfing down my Prawn meal at the restaurant, so no idea what they were like! Second up were The Camels. They have come out of obscurity this year with a few shit hot songs that have been getting high rotation on Triple J. They suitably rocked out, and from my view near the back of the room, they seemed to be really getting into it. After the standard 45 minute break or so, Grinspoon finally hit the stage. The Apollo Room of the Hellenic Club suddenly came to life as Phil and the boys came out. They plugged straight into their new single 'Hard Act to Follow'. (which to be honest, sounds like a piss-take of some cock rock band). Life, however, it rocked hard and the crowd was really getting in it. They played a number of new songs that will be from their upcoming album, called something like, "Pills, Kills, Sunday Thrills". As usual, the other songs on their album sound better than the initial single. The highlights of the night were 'More than You are", "1000 Miles" and "Chemical Heart" was a a great singalong track. They through in a good mix of fast hard songs to slower, 'take-a-breath-and-wipe-the-sweat-off' tracks. The crowd was happy, although the crowd-surfing wasn't working too well with the amount of people there. I saw a few people collapse down cause no-one wanted to hold them up. (oh yeah, and thanks for the boot in the head from some loser) So, overall, the gig was fun. The mosh was rockin, the band were rockin and I was impressed with the venue. The only downer for me was that they didn't play longer. I think they were on stage for not much more than 60 minutes with 1 encore, and there were a few songs that I wish they'd played. Notably 'Just Ace', 'DX3' and 'Post-Enebriated Anxiety'. But hey...I can wait for those next gig. :) Anyone else go?

Posted by Mick @ 8/30/2004 10:58:00 am