The Vines @ Hi-Fi Bar,Melbourne (03/09/2011)

Wed 7th Sep, 2011 in Gig Reviews

The Vines 12-year career has often been marred by chaos, both on and off the stage. In the earlier years, a gig could have gone either way but would never fail to entertain. A notoriously disastrous gig at the Annandale Hotel in 2004 even suggested that longevity wasn’t an option for the band.

And yet, here they stand in promotion of their fifth record, Future Primitive, as a more mature band who, during a terrific set at the Hi-fi, manage to restrict their sense of chaos to the stage.

Craig Nichols emerged on stage with a cigarette in hand before launching into Future Primitive. The set found balance between old favourites and the new material; tracks like Anysound, Highly Evolved and Candy Flippin Girl followed (suitably during the latter song, a girl in the crowd threw candy at Nichols on the stage).

Nichols asked for the audience’s help singing along through their latest single Gimmie Love to a crowd that largely abided. An old B-Side was followed by Outtatheway, Weird Animals and Black Dragon (drummer Hamish Rosser’s favourite Vines track, according to Nichols). Nichols abandoned his guitar whilst lingering around the drum set, drinking from a bottle of water (perhaps the least rock ‘n’ roll element of the gig).

Nichols appears more comfortable in his role; there was no trace of the awkward front man. He interacted with the crowd, hi-fived members of the front row and responded to song requests from miscellaneous pockets of the mosh-pit.

Get Free (introduced as a new song called ‘Groove’ by Nichols, ‘See if you like it’) saw the audience erupt, with the participation Nichols had hoped for during Gimmie Love. 1969, and an impromptu jam followed, dubbed ‘space travel rock ‘n’ roll’ by Nichols, ‘that wasn’t in rehearsal’.

The best response of the night came with Ride, the song ending with Nichols on the verge of tearing apart the stage. Thankfully on this occasion, the threat was not realised as the band exited.

Nichols emerged moments later for a solo acoustic performance of Leave Me in the Dark, before being reunited with the band for He’s a Rocker. The set closed with Fuck the World. In keeping with the nihilism of the lyrics, Nichols took the drum kit with his guitar, destroying the bass-drum skin, followed by a beer bottle and his mike stand. Hamish Rosser continued drumming undeterred, having presumably endured the ritualistic stage destruction countless times before.

Although it may appear The Vines have been working form a rock ‘n’ roll cliche checklist, there is nothing inauthentic about their performance. They’re a band who knows what their fans want, and know how to deliver it.