When the sun and the heat finally arrives in Melbourne, every man and his dog hits the beach. Couple that with regular peak hour traffic and Punt Rd became something of a traffic jam, causing this reviewer to turn up to the first of two shows Gomez were to perform ever so slightly late, and ever so slightly hot and bothered. But with cold beer in hand we ventured into what seemed like a pitch black Gershwin Room to witness the likely lads perform their classic debut album in its entirety. Soon the eyes adjusted, the stress washed away (though not the sweat!), and I was more than happy to have made the manic trek across town for the show.

A huge roar erupted as opener Get Miles came to an end, before the Whippin’ Piccadilly got the entire crowd singing and dancing. Any lack of spontaneity due to the pre determined set list was more than made up for by the fact that every song in that set list has become a classic. Everyone in that crowd greeted each new track like they had been waiting all day to hear it. Make No Sound is something of a misnomer, as Ben Ottewell let loose that huge voice of his and it echoed right out over the street and over the water. Joined by the crowd on the quieter chorus refrain, all the stress and the heat had gone – there was only music. 78 Stone Wobble brought the band back in some more, but for me it was just killing time till Tijuana Lady. A ballad of sorts made up primarily of nonsensical Spanish lyrics, it is a song that strangely touches your heart. Again Ben’s monster voice was the highlight, but the band was certainly coming into their own.

Many of the tracks from Bring It On lend themselves to all out jam sessions, and if Tijuana Lady had hinted at, Here Comes The Breeze put it right up there, front and centre. Starting out pleasantly enough, the song breaks down around the halfway mark to introduce a more upbeat rhythm, more manic drumming, more crowd participation, more harmonies. It almost felt like a big ol’ house party now, and there was more to come. Love Is Better Than Warm Trombone kept the mood upbeat, but not so much as lager lad anthem Get Myself Arrested, which seemed like the perfect song for a hot day like it was. Free To Run was a welcome respite for the heaving crowd, letting us all relax a time, drink our beers.

As well as Gomez do all out bluesy rock with a twist, they do laid back country tinged songs even better, and this was a case in point. Bubble Gum Years falls somewhere in the middle zone that the band created for themselves, that unique genre that seems to set them above the pretenders, while the simply epic Rie’s Wagon showcased the band in their full glory – howling guitars, harmonies, huge vocals, tight rhythm section that makes it all look so damn easy. But if you watch them over all the bobbing heads in the crowd, those boys are working hard, putting everything into delivering a show at an early time slot on a damn hot day for a crowd on the other side of the world from where they call home. Outstanding.

And it was over. Well not really, as the band did come back onstage to test drive two great sounding new songs, and throw We Haven’t Turned Around in for good measure. I am told the second show later that night had the pleasure of a longer encore, but for me it was all about Bring It On tonight. Great album, great songs, great band. Cheers Gomez.