Rock For Relief @ The Corner,25/01/05

Fri 28th Jan, 2005 in Gig Reviews

Just when I thought donation fatigue was setting in along comes another great reason to give. A Shock records showcase – Rock for Relief.

The Corner Hotel hosted this event with 100% of the door and 20% of the bar going to CARE Australia’s Southern Asian Appeal. A great line up was arranged for the night and the small cover charge guaranteed it was a sell out.

We walked in as Legends of Motorsport were revving up. They played a great set and despite a mic stand tumbling over and almost delensing the photographer’s camera they ensured everyone was having as much fun as they were. Although they weren’t the tightest band of the night, awesome guitar licks and a rollicking beat had people dancing as far away as the second stage.

Next up was Love Outside Andromeda and the tiny Sianna Lee’s massive vocal range had many transfixed. It was simply stunning, at times going from ballsy and desperate, to feminine and beautiful, all in the course of a single verse. The skillful Jamie Slocombe set the stage alight with his blistering guitar (which may explain why he was the only band member to opt for footwear). All are accomplished musicians and the rhythm section had a great time rocking out when required.

It was then time to bring the vibe down a bit as Tim and Nina, tsunami survivors, came out to give us a first hand account of what it was like experiencing the disaster and to remind us why we were all there. They relayed to us how the locals had helped them and other tourists immediately after the tsunami struck and implored us to do what we could now to help the locals. It was quite a moving moment although it was dulled somewhat by the yobs up the back who continued to talk loudly during the few minutes they were asked to keep it down.

The veterans of the night The Fauves stepped out to (by their own admittance) the biggest crowd they had played to in years. I didn’t pick out any of their earlier hits but they did play a great Pixies cover and they kept the crowd up to date with the tennis scores.

The Spazzys bought out the first attempted crowd surfers of the night and furthered their claim on the title of Melbourne’s greatest party band. Held together by drumming tighter than Marky’s jeans and with great surf harmonies they had everyone in the place moving, except for the “rock snobs” behind me who somewhere along the line forgot that music is supposed to be FUN. The mandatory sweat that comes with every big Corner gig was offset by the waves of bass flowing out of the speakers like air conditioning. The half hour slot each band was allocated was over all too soon, I would have been happy for the girls to reprise the whole set.

Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males failed to capitalise on the vibe that The Spazzys had kicked off. Not a bad set by any means, it just could have been placed better in the line up. The band members were obviously enjoying themselves and that’s always good to see although their enthusiasm didn’t win over the majority of the crowd. The last track which sounded quite Dallas Crane-esque was by far the best of their set.

Having been overseas for a while I’ll admit to being a Casanovas virgin. Two girls next to me promised that I wouldn’t forget my first time and they were right. The Casanovas are a true headline act. I’ll get the obligatory “balls out rock” reference out of the way here. I often see bands that I think are a great act but it is not often that I’m blown away. Here is a band that truly deserves all the plaudits coming their way. They quickly won me over with songs so catchy that I was singing along by the second chorus and guitars powerful enough to evoke memories of many past great rock acts that I have never seen. These three guys are currently enjoying success in Japan and in the U.K and are a certainty to procure more fans with every gig they play.

All up the night was a huge success and I walked home with a ringing in my ears and a warm fuzzy in my chest having done my bit (once again) to help the people of Southern Asia. Feeling good never felt so good.