I didn’t win any coolsie points from my mates at the Hoey as I departed mid-way through I Heart Hiroshima with a “See-ya-later-going-to –see-Grinspoon” on Saturday night. However, upon receiveing smirks and dastardly stares from beneath many a sweeping fringe, I stoically posed the question – “who here can honestly say they didn’t buy a copy of Licker Bottle Cozy a or A Guide to Better Living when they were fifteen”? A chorus of affirmative mumbles ensued and slowly the slanting mouths de-smirked.

It is true – Grinspoon are the warhorse of modern Aussie music, I (and most of my friends it would seem) did buy A Guide To Better Living when it was released and although as I grew older, wiser etc, my interest in their albums waned –I have always secretly (or not so secretly if you have seen me at one of their gigs) still always enjoyed them live.

So as I trudged into the Metro to re-visit my past and drink a lot of VB with the uber-bogans of Sydney I was (just quietly) a little excited. Grinspoon were well into their first song when I finally perched myself a-top the Metro stairs in awe of the amount of people packed into the room. The crowd had clearly been well oiled by supports Children Collide and The Wahas and were already swaying in that great mosh-pit mass I once longed* to be apart of.

Given that the Grinners have been on (relative) hiatus for the last year, there was a great expectation amongst the crowd that they prove their worth. And I can safely say that they did.

By the second song of the set – Black Tattoo, Phil Jamieson was well and truly immersed in being, well, Phil. I was pleased to see that he still does “Phil” better than anyone else and with just as much head – drooping – sideways – dancing – Pat – pointing moments as ever before. Kris, Pat and Joe were tight and appeared for all its worth to be enjoying every second of crowd mayhem. Quite refreshing given the growing trend of bands that play gigs with a seeming morbid disinterest in their music and audience.

The set was a crowd pleaser to say the least. I was shocked, appalled and quietly pleased with my coolsie arse to discover that I knew nearly all the words to every goddamn one of them. The band tore through a mass of tracks from their entire catalogue including, Bleed You Dry, Pills Thrills, What You Got, Minute By Minute, Ready 1 and A Thousand Miles. Phil did a very dapper acoustic version of Better off Alone (which had the mosh kids a little confused) and then finished with Chemical Heart – which by this stage I was screeching the lyrics too (oh dear).

By the time they returned to the stage I was so well liquored that I screamed like that most awesome 15-year-old I once was seeing Grinspoon at Pushover , as they jumped straight into Just Ace. I didn’t even know they still played this song live and I nearly fell down the Metro stairs as I tried to re-live my glory days and as my mate (quite hilariously) threw himself into the people below.

By the time they finished us off with Champion I was so goddamn happy I had come to this gig that I just had to hunt my friends down at the Hopetoun to tell them what they’d missed.

*had the energy