Bluejuice, Philadelphia GrandJury, DZ @ The Zoo, Brisbane(12/06/09)

Mon 15th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Check out the photos of the pre-extinguisher shenanigans here on FL.

Friday nights in Fortitude Valley are usually eventful, unpredictable and full of stories but tonight’s crowd knew they were in for something completely different. The Zoo was filled with energy from the outset, and continued to grow as the punters poured in, almost filling the venue before the first act.

Openers DZ begin without much fanfare, walking on stage and beginning their set of garage rock. Although at this stage both their catalogue and following is rather small, their sound is large and fast paced. The local boys have developed an almost completely unique sound that got the crowd at the front of stage jumping around and those towards the back tapping feet and nodding heads. DZ do little wrong when it comes to the musical aspect of their live show which they have clearly polished through various shows and support slots around Brisbane. The only thing lacking from their set was crowd interaction with a count in before a couple of songs and a thanks at the end just about all that was said, yet the punters were still involved and ready to keep bouncing to the next two acts.

Triple J Unearthed act Philadelphia Grand Jury contined where DZ left off. Their combination of a strong stage presence and catchy vocals ensured the crowd remained in the mood and kept moving throughout their entire set. The Philly Jays, as they are affectionately known, played a relatively short set filled with many highlights, specifically radio singles Casino and I’m Gonna Kill You. The band were a great support act for tonights headliners and caught the entire room by suprise. The night could have ended after Philadelphia Grand Jury’s set and everybody within The Zoo would have got more than their moneys worth, such was the quality of their performance. The Philly Jays are definitely one to watch and no doubt their fan base will continue grow as the tour around the country.

Enter Bluejuice. They take the stage with unstoppable energy and not once do they take their foot off the pedal. Their set is full of jumping, crowd surfing, stage climbing, witty banter and even the occasional spit into the crowd. The dancing never relented and a crowd sing-a-long even occurred during minor hit Phantom Boogie.

Giving the crowd what they came to see, Bluejuice mixed songs off both their debut album Problems and a few new gems of their upcoming record. Both the old and the new received a solid reception but the loudest cheer was undoubtably when they announced that they had just signed to Brisbane based label Dew Process and were looking forward to seeing a lot more of our great city.

As the headline performance reached its midpoint, frontman Jake Stone proceeded to tear off his shirt and jump into the crowd mid song. This set the crowd off, and one punter took things a little too far, grabbing a fire extinguisher off the wall and dousing the crowd with it’s chemical contents. What at first seemed like an over the top smoke-machine stunt quickly turned to screams and tears as young men carried their girlfriends to the exits and security staff rushed frantically to find the culprit.

The residue from the extinguisher had engulfed The Zoo and forced some of the crowd into the backstage area, where the band stood clearly upset at their performance being interrupted, yet still talking to members of the crowd and giving out bottles of water to everybody affected by the smoke.

Within no more than five minutes the entire venue was cleared and quickly cordorned off with tape as the police entered the venue to investigate. The throng of people continued to wait outside, talking to security, peeking up the stairs and all wishing that the doors would open so they could see THAT song.

Alas, the head of security was quick to move everyone along and inform the visibly disappointed crowd that the show was over. Although Bluejuice’s set was ended prematurely and the crowd left wanting more, as a whole the night was vastly entertaining. From the rawness of DZ to indie rockers Philadelphia Grand Jury and the pure entertainment of Bluejuice, everybody could genuinely say they enjoyed themselves for the most part of the evening, even without a little bit of Vitriol.