Let me start out by saying that I am an enthusiastic supporter of Sydney’s own Cog . In fact, so much so that their latest offering, Sharing Space, sits at the top of my most played list this year. I thought I should clear that one up before proceeding, as there will be the odd Cog fan or two that will find my views some what offensive.

So a cold autumn come winter night leads me to Panthers Newcastle. The last time I graced this venue was to watch a certain rock band fronted by Mike Patton and let me tell you, I was substantially younger and a whole lot less experienced in terms of “gigging”.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Cog have been out on the Sharing Space tour since mid May and after witnessing their epic show at the Enmore a few weeks back, I was wondering how seeing them in a considerably smaller venue would compare. I arrived in time for opening band Kora, whose reggae meet rock grooves had the crowd the moving nicely, just preparing for the main act to emerge. I can’t say I know of their songs, but I will be certainly checking them out next time they pop up on a bill I am going to.

If there was one thing I wasn’t expecting (having missed the start of Cog’s Sydney gig), it was the sounds of “the voice” John Farnham. Nevertheless and much to my personal amusement, the crowd were all screaming “You’re the Voice, try and understand it, woah”. And after what seemed to be an eternity of Australian iconic rock, Cog strolled on stage.

Clocking in at just under ten minutes, No Other Way set the scene for the epic nature of the overall set that would follow. Bird of Feather followed and it was clear to me at this point that Cog were in a position to know that they don’t need to rely on past glories to put their best foot forward in the live setting. It was apparent early though, that much like every time I have ever seen the band, that their “over” use of backing tapes would be rather annoying. It might be just me, but I would much rather see a band member on stage sampling the obscure sounds that the band can’t create live than look at the stage and hear them knowing full we that they aren’t created live. End rant now.

The band didn’t neglect their breakthrough album The New Normal . Early in the set, we heard Resonate and The Spine whilst Real Life was thrown in at the midpoint of the set to break up a large chunk of newer material. It was during this track that I realised how far Cog had come as a live band, with a simple pause in the middle of the song, before breaking into a nice crowd participation moment. When a band can do this, and the whole room sings, they have made it in the live arena.

Older fans were treated to an all too rare flashback to the band’s humble beginnings when Moshiach got an airing, but outside of this and the later inclusion of My Enemy , the rest of our night consisted of material from Sharing Space. You know what, I applaud that and it shows the faith that they have in themselves with this new album. Kudos to the boys from Bondi.

As they closed out the set with the chillingly beautiful Bitter Pills , I left satisfied in most ways, but disappointed in others. Cog are an amazing band, there is no doubting this and their success is well deserved. They have put a lot of thought into transforming themselves to a big venue outfit and it has clearly paid off, but as mentioned I can’t get past the backing tapes issue. It is becoming common for me to walk away from a Cog gig reflecting more on this than the awesome music that they deliver to my ears. That said, if you haven’t seen them, go check it out yourself and make your own assessment.

Set-list: No Other Way, Bird of Feather, Resonate, Are you Interested?, The Spine, Sharing Space, Real Life, The Movie’s Over, Moshiach, Swamp, Town of Lincoln, What if, My Enemy, Bitter Pills.