Panic At The Blue Light Disco!
Strange for a school but Thebarton Theatre was overrun by pubescent and over hyped pimply teenagers who were up for a great night out. Whilst it is easy to bag out these young kiddies you have to admire the energy and vocal appreciation, or high pitched screaming, they lent to all bands on the band. At an over eighteen show there simply isn’t this level of excitement but hanging around with the kiddies parents down back puts things back in to perspective.
Lucky for the kids that show still happened as an under sold show at the Entertainment Centre saw the show moved to the Thebarton making it an instant sell out. For the first time in a long time there were scalpers trying to sell tickets for more than double the original asking price.
Nevertheless, this triple bill was top shelf headlined by Panic At The Disco and aptly supported by The Academy Is and Cobra Starship. Cobra Starship opened proceedings and the way the kiddies carried on anyone would have thought that they were the headline act. You would think that thirty minutes would be hardly enough time to balls things up but welcoming the Perth audience (instead of Adelaide) shows him as a complete tosser. I think we could have done without the fake and pretentious idle chit chat between songs let fans remember the hits like Smile For The Paparazzi, The City Is At War and Snakes On A Plane (Bring It).
Next up was The Academy Is and by that stage the mood was at fever pitch. The kiddies definitely liked these lads. Their set was a good mix of old and new serving as good promo for their forthcoming album release Fast Times At Barrington High. There were some great tunes including About A Girl, Summer Hair Forever Young and more commonly known singles Neighbours and We’ve Got A Big Mess On Our Hands.
Adelaide favourites The City Riots would have been happy after being name checked by both bands all night – hopefully there’s a happy ending there.
The time had come for the main act and the band everyone wanted to see – Las Vegas stars Panic At The Disco. The stage was surrounded by floral patterns in front of a silhouetted screen. Even their microphone stands were decorated with an assortment of flowers.
The loudest screams were saved for these guys and it was going to be interesting to see how the two albums, which are quite a contrast would gel together in their live set. Their new material probably didn’t get the same rousing appreciation like I Write Sins Not Tragedies or Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Pants Off.
I think their new album Pretty Odd shows how far this band has come in such a short period of time proving they are quite talented musicians. There is a real 60s feel to pop numbers Nine In The Afternoon and That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed). It was pleasing to hear the band acknowledge why they missed Adelaide out last tour and promised to return next time. Punters could go home knowing that saw great show and that their money was wellspent.
