Gangbusters! @ Bar 32,Canberra (10/03/10)

Mon 15th Mar, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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After a promising start to the year, Gangbusters! returned to Bar 32 to delight a rampage of indie kids. Showing just what Canberra punk is made of, Super Best Friends and Beat Hotel made up the latter of the lineup with crowd favourites, The Fighting League in tow. Among the wayfarers and side fringes the general vibe was that it was going to be one helluva night.

Rocking Canberra’s stages for the past 4 years, Super Best Friends are no strangers to the club scene. Taking to the stage (or corner), they looked every part the indie punksters. Playing an addictive blend of gamer-punk and pop, SBF (as they’re affectionately known) delighted with their highly energetic stage antics and explosive sounds. Disappointingly, a lot of their later songs saw their keyboards go to waste, losing some of the initial charm seen earlier on in the set. Igniting a relatively dead crowd was the song “Everything’s Fine” with it’s catchy riffs and contagiously happy melodies, setting up a promising start to the evening.

Taking to the floor next are relative newcomers, Beat Hotel. From first glance, they had their indie look down pat; from the clumpy cardigans to the super skinnies to the brown brogues. Presenting themselves with an air of superiority that’s often grimaced at in the indie scene, Beat Hotel sidled to the mic stands and despite the poor mixing, delivered a solid but uninspiring start to the set. Pulling up at a halt halfway through, the lead singer left his guitar behind and completely changed the feel of the band for the better. Beat Hotel oozed confidence with its frontman no longer hiding behind a guitar and the crowd perked up slightly, the band members running with this new energy. Where Beat Hotel fell short in stage presence and crowd interaction, they definitely made up for in easy, catchy tracks that got a few shoulders swaying and feet stomping, which was proving a difficult task.

Lastly but certainly not least, the ecclectic The Fighting League rolled into the dimly lit corner of Bar 32 and the semi-circle of Canberra’s indie finest started to pay attention. From the first few opening riffs and the overflow of energy from larger-than-life front man Dom, The Fighting League set themselves up to be something huge. Dashing these expectations was their first mistake; stopping mid song to start over. Bringing light to errors is never a pleasant thing in a musician’s experience but The Fighting League rolled with the punches well enough and continued on, front man Dom claiming “Concentration makes perfection!”. Busting eardrums with their diverse mix of new wave punk and setting fists pumping and hands clapping with catchy melodies, once again, the keyboards seemed not nearly as featured as they should be. With only their unstoppable energy and “Who cares?” attitude setting them apart from the rest of the lineup, The Fighting League blended into the background musically, and their continuous stopping and lengthy pauses between songs left much to be desired on the front of stage presence and performance. That being said, The Fighting League showed a great deal of promise and managed to whip the crowd into a frenzy, something that had been hard to do all night.

Another Gangbusters! down for the year and after Wednesday’s display of catchy punk goodness, it appears that it’s all down to the crowd to do their bit in picking up the energy and giving the playing bands something to work with ‘cos if the crowd ain’t havin’ fun, then ain’t no one havin’ fun!

CHECK OUT THE PICS HERE!