Now I cried the day that I heard that Video Killed the Radio Star was going to be the last song that the President of the United States were ever going to play together. I watched all of their filmclips (Peaches being my personal favourite). I had all their CDs, okay, I stole one of them off my step-brother, but you get the idea. When I saw the poster advertising that they were coming, I couldn’t believe it! I had mates check the website to make sure that it wasn’t some lame band trying to spin off on their name. And then, when they confirmed it, I got them to send me the picture of the band from the website because I was still in disbelief

Do you remember that series that was on a while ago where that guy got hit in the head and went back in time to when he was a teenager, well, that was my Tuesday night. I was back to the days of hypercolour t-shirts and early mornings sitting in front of the television watching rage. Back to the days when if you said “emo”, people would think that you either mispronounced one of the animals on the Australian emblem or you were talking about a friendly sesame street character. Back to the days of Jebediah, Frenzal and Bodyjar, where you COULD mosh and crowd-surf, no, cancel that – it was expected! Where you could get on stage with the band and not feel like you were on some bad version of big brother being herded together with all those fences. Add all of this with passing puberty, being old enough to drink and having a cute girl there to take pictures and I think that’s as close to heaven as I’m going to get!

The night kicked off with Dave McCormack (of Custard) and the Polaroids, and yes, that keyboard player was from Gud! The boys managed to successfully break the seal on the crowd by 7:30 and had them moving to hits like Girls Like That and I’m Going To Execute Your Ex-Boyfriend.

Next up was Tripod with another hilarious musical act after another. These guys are very random, slightly disturbed, funny men – see them if you get the chance! They really managed to get me in the mood for PUSA, let’s just say I was slightly hyperactive at this stage.

Then came the moment I’d been waiting for…the lights dimmed…the curtains opened and the boys came charging out in a moment of bright lights, smoke and rock glory! Now I had doubts in the back of my mind that maybe they would go flat, maybe they wouldn’t be what I expected. I hang my head in shame – the guys rocked the place out! Now it was hot enough to pass out just standing watching, let alone getting in the mosh pit but the army of loyal, sweaty supporters continued to push on to all of their hits, Dune Buggy, Kitty, Lump and more. I was surprised at how easily all of the lyrics came back to me, kind of like riding a bike – except there’s no bike and, well, you get the idea. Personal favourite part of the gig was when Chris Ballew got all the lights turned out and only lighters and mobiles lit the place. Overall the guys were terrific, great set, they haven’t lost it a bit! Loved ‘em!

The Tivoli, as mentioned, was a good choice for the venue, back to the days of old! The boys come back in March next year – GO SEE THEM!