As a twenty-two year old, I was younger than everyone else at the packed-out Corner Hotel by at least twenty years. Unsurprising since the headlining band The Stems broke up the year I was born. That didn’t stop any of the punters from getting really into the music and proving that you don’t have to be in your teens to bounce around and do a little light moshing.

Unlike normal gigs where punters tend to arrive fashionably and irritatingly late, the venue was already fairly crowded by the time opening band The Dolly Rocker Movement started to play on the Corner Hotel’s miniature second stage. Their sweet tunes were sixties-inspired psychedelic rock with some surf rock influences thrown in – the Beach Boys-esque keyboard may have had a large part to do with that. The Sydney band must’ve realised how big a deal it was to play with the Stems – at one point singer/guitarist Dandy Lyon introduced a song, but was shut down by keyboardist Martin Walters because “it’s too derivative of the Stems!” The five-piece played Follow the Sound, Sold For Sinners, Mystery Man, Get Up Au Go Go and closed with Steam Train Blues.

The second band of the night, Huxton Creepers, had a massive following in the crowd. The majority of punters in the crowd knew the lyrics to every song in their set list, and they sure showed it. Unsurprising, considering that the Melbourne band were active around the same time as the Stems and were playing on home ground. They played familiar tunes like I Will Persuade You, King of the Road and Better Days (which singer Rob Craw called his favourite) to the eager crowd. Although the band played enthusiastically and energetically, it looked like their war torn equipment was about to die onstage. “Can you hear that sound?” Craw asked the crowd. “That’s the sound of 50 year old amps about to explode. Well, 46 years old precisely.”

Despite being highly respected veterans on the Australian music circuit, Even seemed really honoured to be opening for the Stems. “I have memories of doing the night shift in 1987 and trying to tape videos of the Stems,” recalled singer/guitarist Ashley Naylor. Thinking back to the good ole days must’ve put Naylor in a reminiscent type of mood, because he dedicated I’ve Got Nothing to “the nineties and living with fifty dollar rent.” They also played The Common Law, Life Gets In The Way, Stop and Go Man and Stupid Dream.

The Stems’ show at the Corner Hotel was part of their farewell tour to properly bid their fans adieu. Although they did break up in 1987, the Perth band reformed in 2003 and released new work in 2007 but claim that they are really hanging up the guitars this time. Singer Dom Mariani told The Age newspaper: “This is our first farewell. We did break up once but weren’t in good enough shape to say goodbye. This time we’ll end it off on a good note.” He then added, probably to disperse John Farnham type rumours, “The band’s going really well but you just know when it’s time to go.”

It seemed a bit sad that this would be their last Melbourne gig, because their set was filled to the brim with nostalgic hits like Mister Misery, The Otherside, Man With The Golden Heart, Move Me, Rosebud, Sad Girl, At First Sight and You Can’t Turn the Clock Back Baby. Never did I imagine that I would ever see people my parents’ age mosh, but their fans definitely proved me wrong. Although there wasn’t any serious jumping like you’d imagine at the Slayer concert, the punters showed that they weren’t adverse to some light head banging, singing along and air guitar. As the band wrapped up Stepping Stone, their last song for their last ever Melbourne gig, Mariani said with just a hint of sadness, “Thanks for coming to see us… So long!”