28 Days @ The Hi-Fi, Melbourne(19/12/09)

Sun 20th Dec, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Hailing from a time when bands had to tour for two years before anyone ever paid them any attention, 28 Days are provably one of Australia’s hardest working bands in terms of the number of shows under their belt. Having recently come out from under their rock to support the recent Bodyjar farewell shows, they are headlining tonight’s “Fist Full of Awesome” at Melbourne’s Hi-Fi bar.
– œSome band dropped out and they put us at the top. All the other bands were awesome and we’re shit! Dunno who’s idea that was!’ laughs frontman Jay Dunne. They should stop being so modest. However, being from the crop of Aussie bands loved for their typical onstage larrikin-ism, 28 Days can be soon forgiven. It’s the next best thing they do besides playing some damn fine tunes.

They opened with their biggest and probably best number, Sucker, instantly getting the crowd in the mood. Having to wait five minutes for Simon – œHep’ Hepburn to get his guitar ready, with fellow band mates paying him out for being a ponce with two guitars when one would do just fine. Where most bands would fail in the silence, the boys fill the gap brilliantly with jokes and off-handed insults thrown in jest.

Rounding off their set with older crowd favorites Kool, Say What?, Goodbye and What’s the Deal? have the punters singing along to every word. Having seen them myself on one of their very first tours off the back of their debut album in 1998, this show has proved that they haven’t lost any of their intensity or passion.

28 Days have had a pretty impressive career this far with three gold records, one platinum selling album and seven ARIA nominations. We haven’t had a new album for a number of years, having to make do with their greatest hits offering from 2007, Ten Years of Cheap Fame. Tonight, the Hi-Fi was treated to some new tracks. – œWe’ve got four new songs, and I reckon we’ve just gonna make a new album’ says Jay, hitching up his shorts. Which he does about a billion times throughout the show.

Finishing up with Rip It Up, and a single song encore, it’s a shame it was over so quickly and that so few people came out to enjoy the catch up with some old mates.