While the sports stars taking centre court for the Australian Open, a newly revamped entertainment structure at the heart of Melbourne Park will see some of the very best Australian musicians & performers taking centre stage to entertain the crowds in between the day & night sessions of this year’s tournament.

Taking a break from the 2010 Big Day Out duties, the energetic, the eccentric and the downright electric Bluejuice took to the small stage in Garden Square, for day one of live music. Beginning their set in true Bluejuice fashion, talented keys player Jerry Craib cranks into the title song of album number two, Head of the Hawk. Despite a large portion of the crowd being seemingly unaware of who Bluejuice are it’s not long before a small group of dedicated fans sit back in lawn chairs down the front and sing along with singers Jake Stone and Stav Yiannoukas appearing. – œHello,’ Jake declares, – œwe are Bluejuice, and you people are tennis people.’

Having been used to playing small venues and large crowded festivals around Australia, Bluejuice made the most of this smaller, more relaxed crowd by playing theirs hits and most energetic songs to get the crowd into the action. Continuing with the insanely brilliant Miss Johnston and Phantom Boogie, there is no denying the raw energy and zest that they guys have. It’s unbelievably catchy, and noticeably so.

By this point, the small group had grown into a small crowd, and Cypriot Stav Yiannoukas even had a joke about the rivalry between Cyprus and Croatia, – œWe tried to get Marcus Baghdatis here’ joked Stav, dedicating their next single, (Ain’t) Tellin’ The Truth to the Cypriot player. Making small vocal appearances throughout the song, Stav and Jerry would burst out with chants of – œBaghdatis!’ much to the amusement of the crowd.

A treat for true Bluejuice fans appeared in the form of a new song, a short and sweet tune called You Haven’t Changed. It was a brief, but exciting showcase of what is to come from Bluejuice when they commence work on album number three.

Usually played at the conclusion of Bluejuice’s regular set’s, fan favourite The Reductionist made an early appearance. At this point, Bluejuice well and truly held the crowd in their grasp. Rather than sit in the lawn lounges, many seats were empty as the crowd opted for the makeshift mosh pit. At this point the rain had begun to bucket down, with the crew covering electrical wires with garbage bags. This didn’t deter them; it was on with the show, Bluejuice style! (Aka hands down pants, curse words, beer and general mayhem.)

Plugging new album Head of the Hawk, Stav and Jake interacted with the crowd, shoving microphones in faces, bear hugging/singing with the crowd, and making a mess with overflowing beer, all the while performing new song Facelift. Work saw the crowd singing along, – œI ain’t into that,’ repeating after the Jake. Bassist Jamie Cibej tends to hang back and steer clear of Jake and Stav on stage, (probably for safety reasons), as drummer James Hauptmann provided perfect drum backings, never missing a beat.

Little Emperor preludes the performance of Bluejuice’s mainstream breakout song, the undeniably catchy Broken Leg. Jake bounds about, jumps in the crowd and sings, with them, whilst Stav takes over stage duties. The crowd sing along word for word. It’s no doubt the highlight of such an exclusive set.

Finally, it’s time for the inevitable performance of Vitriol and the end of a strong, energetic forty five minute set. Safety reasons and an incredibly drenched stage saw the usual stage invasion left in the dark, so instead the band came to the crowd, with Jake jumping down head first to make the most of the song, heading out as far as the microphone cord could take him.

Kudo’s to Bluejuice for taking the time to perform such a great set, they gave the fans a brilliant show, and judging by the smiles on the crowds faces, entertained everybody else. Notably, certain songs such as Hunnamunnafeeb and Devil were omitted, so not to offend anybody. After all, The Australian Open is a family friendly event and Bluejuice rarely, if never play all ages shows, even though it was performed in an 18+ area. That said, it didn’t interfere with the overall excitement and buzz generated from Bluejuice’s insane performance.

If your planning on heading down to the Aussie Open, be sure to catch the rest of the Garden Square entertainment, with upcoming performances by Kate Miller-Heidke, Kisschasy and Van She just a few to keep your eye on.