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Last Thursday night the Canberra music cadre got together to celebrate five years of FasterLouder supporting the Canberra music scene. The Front Cafe and Gallery was the place to be as the cool kids got out early to catch the FL all local line-up.

Youngster Love, Sage kicked the night off with her delectable tunes and melodies and lovely lyrics. The slightly awkward and shy Sage has a sweet and honest little voice and was a delight to watch. The otherwise rowdy birthday crowd was standing to attention and listening attentively. With Jordan helping out on guitar and harps, the set included Thank you, Letters and aptly finished with Happy Birthday.

To keep the vibe sliding along nicely, FasterLouder employed the help of some of Canberra’s greatest performance poets. Canberra writer and poet, Andrew Galan was in charge of keeping his troops in line and managing the Slate intake throughout the night.

Adam Hadley, aka Jacinta has won the Woodford Folk Festival Poetry Slam and has represented Canberra at the Sydney Opera House as part of the National Poetry Slam finals in 2008 among many many credits to his name. On Thursday night, Jacinta took the party by storm with his hilarious poem about Tori Spelling with the attentive crowd playing along with the interactive poem, ’...oh Tori’...

Throughout the night these talented poets provided the vegitmite to your cheese sandwich and entertained, shocked and charmed the crowd. Leon Twardy in particular, made the crowd blush with his condom poem; .... And you know what? After the bloody shameful fuss she kicked up over having a mark on her neck, it was a relief on the walk home when I remembered that I’d cleared it away. To my shoe. As I was walking. Bit of a problem, but, I should point out, it wasn’t uh.. “filled” as such, so the only real problem was maybe that some fairly exotic bacteria was about to make colony. And so what, my left foot smells like my lover’s cunt? Heh. Told you, shocking!

Other poets and spoken word performers for the night included Bela Farkas, the lovely Alison McGregor and Melbourne’s Randall Stephens.

Canberra folk/blues/rock four-piece, The Love Recession, was up next playing a seven song set that got the now bustling crowd dancing, singing and generally in the mood for fun. Set highlights included Friday Night, Silence, Smoke and Sin and Borderline Blues with singer/bass player Steve Paillas impressing the crowd belting out the lyrics.

After Alison McGregor impressed us with her luscious words and impeccable memory, Canberra stalwarts Margaret Helen King took to the stage. The catchy three-piece pleased the crowd with their splendid melodies and indie pop tunes. The Front was packed, the crowd suitably lubricated and despite having to get up early Friday morning for the public service droll, all were digging the MHK vibe.

Hancock Basement had the honour of closing out the night, facing off against the 10pm sound curfew. We were never going to make the curfew. Tom Spira the rascal he is, ignored Front pleas to ‘turn down the drums’; ‘I can’t turn down the drums!’ he exclaimed, as the band played on. These boys showed the FL crowd why they have such a name for themselves these days, in Canberra and further a field. Favourites Hey Kids, We Started Something, and Oh, Todd kept the crowd buzzed, dancing and grateful for such talented local bands. Hancock Basement finished their set by thanking FasterLouder for the party, (and we thank you too buddies!).

Thanks for all involved in the night, celebrating FasterLouder’s 5th birthday, Canberra’s most famous five year old!

CHECK OUT THE GALLERY HERE!