Gyroscope, The Vasco Era,After The Fall @ The ForumTheatre, Melbourne(11/06/2010)

Wed 16th Jun, 2010 in Gig Reviews

A cold winter night could not diminish the heat that was to explode at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre on Friday, June 11.

Opening the night of pure Australian rock ‘n’ roll was New South Wales Central Coast band and local favourites, After The Fall. Despite the crowd not reaching its full capacity so early in the evening, the band pulled in an alarming response. Playing a majority of their recently released tracks, they kept onlookers satisfied with an old favourite, Mirror Mirror. For a set that seemed to finish in no time, the crowd seemed to have poured into the artificially star-lit venue thick and fast by this point.

Within a matter of minutes, The Vasco Era was next to don the stage. All of their eccentricities intact, the band began their set with a heavy blues/rock ‘n’ roll rendition of the Beatles classic, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?; a song which was very well assembled by the band, and received by punters alike. Although I have listened to the band for years, I could not anticipate what I was about to witness… nor just how unique the band’s lead singer, Sid O’Neil, truly is. The band performed many of their hits, including When You Went, Honey Bee ( When It Was Making Weird Love Songs ) , and even an incorporated rendition of the Motown classic, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg. The band pulled out all the stops; O’Neil singing (if not, almost shouting) at the crowd with his husky blues voice; the entire band running rampant on stage. It was the quintessential performance to define Melbourne rock ‘n’ roll.

The archaic venue began to resemble a sardine can, as the packed crowd waited anxiously for the four Perth boys to grace with their presence. A crowd favourite for years, it was 2008’s Breed Obsession that warranted Gyroscope as not “just another band”. In particular, it was their song Snakeskin that firmly planted them into the Australian music scene, even becoming that year’s AFL season song.

Performing tracks from their fourth and most recent LP, Cohesion , Gyroscope were not going to let the crowd miss out on hearing some of the classics, including Sound Shattering Sound’s Safe Forever, Fast Girl off Are You Involved? and Breed Obsession’s 1981. However, it was 2003’s Doctor Doctor that genuinely riled them up. In came the chorus of that song, and out went the insanity of all onlookers. Gyroscope had set the standard for chaos that night, far outweighing anything that Sid O’Neil or his Vasco Era bandmates were capable of.

Closing the set on their latest hit, Some of the Places I Know, the band exited the stage, only to return for a well-received two-song encore; the first of which was Australia . Accoustic guitar in hand, the bare-chested frontman, Dan Sanders , led his band in performing their tribute to the country.

The entire set, though, there was one thing, and one thing alone on my mind: “When is Snakeskin coming?” Fear not, it arrived. The perfect way to end a perfectly crafted and performed set, Sanders, along with his bandmates, led the crowd into sheer pandemonium with the opening lyrics: “Hang up the phone, no need to cry…”

The chaos that followed was one which I wish I could remember. At that point, however, I was far too busy trying to see through my mop of hair as it nodded back and forth, whilst also trying to see the band. Sanders, in all of his frontman glory, enjoyed prime position, standing with his back faced towards the crowd on drummer Rob Nassif’s kit.

There were jumps, guitar flicks, shout-outs and stage-dives. All in all, it was the definition of live Australian rock ‘n’ roll. No disappointments, only sore necks and the need for more.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE