Bouncing their way into Canberra this week The Grates headed up a stellar line-up at the ANU Bar on Wednesday night. Supporting them were current JJJ favourites Children Collide and last year’s JJJ Unearthed High winners Tom Ugly (formerly known as IS).
Recently winning JJJ’s Unearthed High, Tom Ugly have proven their worth over the last year taking the stage with the likes of Grinspoon and Midnight Juggernauts. They certainly did not disappoint this time around playing songs off their soon to be released EP revealing that they are fast becoming powerful players on the Oz music scene.
Currently rocking up a storm on radio stations across Australia, Melbourne newcomers Children Collide tore the house down in what was probably one of the greatest support shows seen in a very long time. Powering their way through an explosive performance and finishing off with their latest single (off their debut release) Social Currency.
Right on time The Grates took the stage, Patience in all her peculiar girly wonder had the guys in the audience fighting for the front of stage and a great majority of the female crowd (who had dressed up for the occasion trying to out-Patience Patience with acid colours, frills and odd clothing combinations) bouncing off the walls.
Kicking off their set with Carve Your Name they had the little Canberries eating out of the palms of their hands. Apologising to the sold out crowd for taking such a damn long time to get back here proved an unnecessary exercise as the crowd had quite obviously already forgiven them.
Next they served up their Canberra special, Milk Eyes which earned them a great response last time they were here…it clearly still had an effect on the crowd (or at least one couple in the crowd who were making out furiously much to the hilarity of the people around them). Patience then asked one lucky fellow in the audience whether it would be ok if she jumped on his shoulders to get higher for the ever popular Trampoline. Although he responded with an obscene gesture earning him the title “the devil in a Grates t-shirt”, up she jumped to the delight of the crowd.
The rest of their bubbly set included many Grates favourites including Rockboys, Inside Outside, the much loved track off their current album Burning Bridges as well as crowd-pleasers 19 20 20 and Science is Golden. For the encore, Johnny from Children Collide jumped on stage to do a duet with Patience (pleasing the gals in the crowd to no end). To finish off their vibrant and energetic performance they busted out Oh Yeah with the punters straining their vocal cords to sing along.
The Grates are always a pleasure to see, their effervescence and energy is contagious. They are currently on their Biggest and Longest Adventure Tour with a short list of dates left. Children Collide are joining them for the rest of the tour making it a show not to be missed. Suffice to say, you’ll have a grate time!
to listen to their music now on 
