The chance to catch Frenzal Rhomb on what could be their last ever tour saw a sold out crowd head to Club Capitol to catch an iconic Australian punk band perform for one last time. Now playing as a heritage band, the gig was of special significance in the hearts of Frenzal Rhomb fans on what was most likely the end of the band’s vast and illustrious musical career. After 15 years of rocking the hearts of punk hungry Australians it is now time for Frenzal Rhomb to hang up their boots and celebrate their impressive contribution to the Australian music scene.
Hardcore act 3 Days Later began proceedings with a fast-paced and aggressive set that sent the crowd into a riot and prepared the punters for a messy and hostile gig. 3 Days Later are a classy band who demonstrated their elegance by yelling into the moshpit with profanity and spitting beer into all its members’ faces. Musically, the band were quite limited as one can only tolerate so many of the two-minute spurts of power chord progressions which made up a large proportion of their set. However, in the few songs in which the band did drop the pace and allow breaths of air between lines of lyrics, the songs produced that brilliant ‘young and pissed off’ punk/hardcore sound which gave the audience something to sink their teeth into.
Once the stage had been cleaned up after the energised set of 3 Days Later, chants of “Frenzallll” threatened to knock down the venue’s walls. Hitting the stage to the soundtrack of I Want to Know What Love is, it was good to see the larrikins from Frenzal Rhomb had not lost their priceless sense of humour. Opening the set with the relatively new track in White World, the quartet proved to their loyal following that after 15 years they can still put on a great live performance. Frontman Jason Whalley hit every note as it should have been hit, occasionally throwing in a roaring scream for good measure. The 15 years of practice amongst the band was also evident as they played a very tight gig with all of the solos and chord progressions in the right places.
Frenzal Rhomb were not joking when they hailed the performance a heritage gig as they played all the way through their back catalogue, ripping through the hits that Frenzal fans have grown up with and most likely got drunk to on a number of occasions. One song which certainly meets that criteria is Never Had So Much Fun, as the dressed-down audience members sang along arm in arm swinging their respective brews to their favourite Australian punk anthem. It appeared that the audience members, ranging in age from 18 to mid 40s (most of which reeked of masculinity) had “never had so much fun” as generations were brought together by their favourite Australian punk rock band. The Frenzals certainly paid respect to their older material with the less exposed songs getting as much playtime as their well known tracks. Highlights of the set included Let’s Drink a Beer, to which many Swan Draughts were sculled; and World’s Fuckedest C**t, where perfectly timed chorus sing-alongs echoed throughout the venue.
In between songs Whalley entertained the audience by declaring his newfound unemployment after his decision to leave Triple J and travel throughout 2008. Whalley’s humorous anecdotes between songs maintained a lighthearted mood throughout the gig and kept the audience constantly throwing their heads back in violent bursts of laughter. However, the band did show that they have a serious/political side when they dedicated songs to our God-given right to “select caps lock when wanting to type in capitals” and to use the prediction text feature on our mobile phones.
As Frenzal treated the audience to the aged songs There’s Your Dad and Racist it became obvious that the gig was drawing to an end. At what had already been an epic gig, the punk rock quartet continued to plough through the songs as if it was going out of fashion as an aura of nostalgia washed over the beer consuming mass. When it was announced that there would be no proper encore from the full band, it became apparent to the crowd that this could be the last time they would ever see the band in this shape or form. Although the dreadlocked and overgrown facial hair bearing audience hardly looked like the type to produce a tear in their eye, it was an emotional moment. While the sombre expressions of the crowd showed how saddened they were by the ending of an era, the demeanour shown by the band exerted a tone which suggested that they were excited by the start of another.
