Before even reaching the box office, the evidence of underage drinking was everywhere, as fluoro-clothed boys and tiny-short-wearing girls stumbled their way to the Hordern Pavilion. Several people were being paddy-wagoned away before the opening act had even set foot on stage.
Several concertgoers were disappointed by Operator Please cancelling their appearance. However this did not dampen anyone’s spirits….in fact, spirit was everywhere. The stench of sticky pink alcohol filled the air for what I’d assume to be at least a 200-metre radius. This stench came in a ménage-a-trois with sticky floors and teen make-out corners.
Bluejuice stood in for Operator Please, who’d pulled out due to illness. The band mentioned several times during intros or after a song that it was “about an ex-girlfriend” or “about a girl I liked” or “about a girl who never was my ex-girlfriend”. Clearly the band has bad luck in love, filling at least three to four songs about their broken hearts. However, all cynicism aside, the crowd seemed to love it, and moshed regardless of whether they knew the lyrics or not.
It has to be said, regardless of the crowd that PNAU brought in, they knew how to put on a great show. Not only did they play their skinny little arms and legs off, they brought in people dressed in the characters from the video clips on to the stage. Soon the stage was filled with Wild Strawberries, diamonds, lightning bolts, smiling suns and the green skull. The band and the characters rocked out so hard that a Wild Strawberry was accidentally kicked off the stage and into the photo pit. Luckily the booted Strawberry made her way back on stage victoriously.
The light show, too, was something to be proud of. You could literally feel the electricity flowing though the crowd. PNAU’s set was full of surprises, including dozens of giant colourful balloons bouncing off the stage, through the lights and into the crowd. The disappointing thing was that so many people left after hearing the song Baby. The band ended with a message to their fans to stand up for the right thing, with the simple and catchy No More Violence. Those fans who stayed right till the end were rewarded with an encore of Wild Strawberries.
