sUPPORT ACT Johnny Uppercut seemED to be a punk band just by the name, but they were more screamo than anything. The band was made up of mostly girls (vocals, keys, guitar), with a male drummer and bassist completing the line-up. According to the vocalist, this was a special gig for them, since they had formed at a Young & Restless gig.
The next band was Comic Sans from Brisbane, an all-male 4-piece. They were entertaining, with the vocalist dancing like he needed to take a leak, and they played pretty hard. So hard in fact, that a guitar strap broke during the first song. The music was fairly danceable, though there was little room to dance by that point. (Isaac and Cate from Flamingo Crash were in the crowd too!)
Young & Restless’ start time was pushed back by about 15 minutes to give bassist Ross a chance to compose himself when he got a bit teary-eyed before the set. It was a little bit heartbreaking to watch, and I had to avoid getting sad myself.
Soon enough, they hit the stage, with vocalist Karina announcing that the Arthouse was her favourite venue to play, before jumping into the set. There was a bit of a technical problem with guitarist Josh’s pedals, made worse by a drunk punter leaning on the cables. Heated words were exchanged, pedals were fixed, and Ross quipped, “It’s not a Young & Restless show unless there’s a f***ing technical problem.” And the show continued.
Karina crowd-surfed no less than four times, showing absolutely no hesitation in leaping off the stage into the crowd. Then a drunk girl got onto the stage and started dancing, and Karina tried goading her into crowd-surfing as well, but she declined. There was also an attempt at a “Wall of Love” (as opposed to a Wall of Death, favoured at most metal gigs) on Karina’s request, and Josh’s impromptu singing solo, when Karina’s mic played up.
The night was rounded out by the drunk girl from earlier, crashing the stage with two friends, drummer Nugie yelling “Hey Josh, play Metallica!” and getting a few chords in response, a few more crowd-surfers that weren’t Karina, and the majority of the audience getting up on the stage for Dirty Kicks, the final song of the night.
It was a brilliant show, and one I’m glad that I was able witness.
Set List:
WWTF
Kapow
Jigsaw
Satan
RIP
I Pointed
Melting Tar
Flava Country
Creeps
Police
Dirty Kicks
to listen to their music now on 
