So folks another year has rolled past us and a new one looms ahead, which unfortunately means some things have to come to an end and our beloved Gangbusters is one of them (at least till 2010).

This means Bar 32 was crammed with fans of indie and alternative music and everything in between on Thursday night for the last Gangbusters of the year. Those fans were a delightful mix of girls storming ahead in the fashion stakes with their sequins and floral prints teamed with all kinds of footwear and guys with their fantastic thick rimmed glasses.

Gangbusters had to have a tasty recipe of bands for these guys to chew on for the 2009 finale and they weren’t disappointed with the line-up of Popolice,JW Sparrow & the Miner Birds, Assassins 88 and Hoodlum Shouts.

JW Sparrow’s artistic guitar sounds teamed with the coloured strobe lights reflecting off the bar’s disco ball started the night off with a vibe that was positively psychedelic. His vocals were a bit soft, but maybe that was all part of the spell he was trying to put us under.

There wasn’t much time to stop and ride that wave though, with Hoodlum Shouts ripping through the club with their rocking performance. Sam Leyshon is a truly charismatic front man, not to mention one of the few people who can pull off a beard. The Triple J Unearthed Trackside winners got many a cheer and even the odd whistle as they livened up the crowd ahead of the performance from Popolice.

Kiwi ex-pat and current Melbournian Popolice (aka Marc Regueiro-Mckelvie) has a reputation for being a nice guy, but his guitar playing skills don’t give him away. A one-man-band of sorts, he delivered a cosmic mix of sounds that could rip through your core – he must have a bad streak in there somewhere to play like that. You could hear a few people complaining about the sound levels though, with his performance possibly a bit much for the intimate venue with some blocking their ears in parts, but you can’t really complain about being able to get that close to an artist.

We were pretty bummed that we had to leave early and miss out on Assassins 88 but they certainly would have had enough company without us, with many saying they were keen to see them perform. The crowd had halved by this stage but there were still enough people there to show the Canberra boys some love.

With the steady thump of their heads it was clear throughout the night the crowd were soaking it all up because they knew they couldn’t get their next Gangbusters fix till next year. We’re already excited for when it returns to the first Thursday of each month starting in February 2010!