Ok, so it’s Saturday night, October long weekend. Most of your friends are either a) Parklife-ing it up, b) at some bush doof, possibly on the rehab side of drug use, c) away because it’s a long weekend, or d) staying in ‘because it’s raining’.

At least that’s what my friends were doing, and is the reason why I struggled to hand out a plus one to last night’s Yves Klein Blue, The Holidays, and Chambers. Sucks to be them.

Arriving at about 2030 (that’s 8.30pm for those of you not brought up in the military), I was pleasantly surprised to see a crowd of at least twenty people in the ANU Bar. Having been to some gigs recently where a crowd of ten by the second band is a minor miracle, this was quite a Canonisation-worthy sight to see, perhaps since this is the Immaculate Confection tour.

Chambers, a four piece shoegaze band from Sydney, were on stage just before nine. Now, if you’re a fan of The Cure circa 1985, and then let’s assume they’ve all just slept with the lovechild of Kevin Shields and Peter Hook, you might like this band. Fender Jaguar? Check. Phantom Teardrop guitar? Check. I can see where this is going…

Beginning their set with a melange of noise and feedback, Chambers aren’t exactly the indie punk I was expecting when I turned up. Not that I’m complaining. Continuing their set with layered guitar harmonies and a fantastic drummer who is obviously not afraid to put a stick through his skins the way he was playing, Chambers kept a more or less motionless, albeit with a little foot tapping here and there, crowd enthralled for a good forty-five minutes.

In between bands I had a quick scope of the crowd and started wondering if Academy was closed and everyone who usually goes there had decided to come to the ANU instead. Despite now pushing well over forty, the crowd was quite different to what you would expect at such a gig, with high waisted shorts on girls, and generic print t-shirts on the guys. Maybe I’m being judgemental. Probably.

At 2130 (9.30pm), Yves Klein Blue leapt onto the stage in the most demure of ways, with lead singer Michael Tomlinson cutting in over the house music, alone with an acoustic guitar. The rest of the band joined him through the song, and away they went. Departing from the shoegaze sound of Chambers, Yves Klein Blue have a post-punk leaning to them, which not only reflected in their energy on stage, but also transferred to the crowd, with a small group approaching the stage and getting their boogie-woogie on.

They played for about an hour or so, keeping the energy levels going. It must be all the sugar. Insert Immaculate Confection pun here.

So, about midway through the set, a group of friends turned up and a few remarked to me about how small the crowd was. After being quietly impressed with what I thought was a sizeable crowd, it dawned on me that no, a rough estimate of forty people (give or take band members and bar staff) isn’t good. Well, it is good for Canberra in recent times, but still, despite how long Canberrans have been complaining about it, the fact of the matter is that no amazing bands will keep coming back to Canberra if they’re playing to a sound guy. Sorry to harp on about it, but seriously, get your shit together.

I digress…

Rotating the headline spot throughout the tour, it was The Holidays time to shine. Continuing on with the indie-punk vibe, The Holidays played cuts from their two most recent EP’s, the eponymous release from earlier in the year, and the very soon about to be released oh-god-is-it-next-Saturday-it’s-released-oh-yes-I-think-it-is When The Ship Goes Down.

Warmly received by the now arena-sized crowd of 50,000 (well done Canberra), The Holidays put on a great set, the end of which I unfortunately missed due to having to run like hell to make a DJ commitment.. So if the ANU Bar burnt down last night due to some hot, hot tunes, I may have missed it. For that, I apologise, but if Timbaland has taught me anything (and he has) it’s too late for that apparently.