Gerling and Starky @ Sol Bar,Coolum (24/6/06)

Tue 27th Jun, 2006 in Gig Reviews

Whether it’s Sunshine Coast locals being really into Gerling or the Sol Bar being a pretty small venue I’m not sure, but either way, the show was sold out long before the doors opened on Saturday night.

The Sol Bar’s lack of a backstage area meant Starky and Gerling were relaxing on the balcony when we walked inside. Despite it being close to the tour winding up everyone was getting along famously, with banter flying around all over the place as the crowd started to thicken — most of the jokes butted on a certain Aussie band with a certain crossover hit about cosmetics and alcohol.

The crowd is very respectable when Starky take the stage, although with everyone either bashful or conserving energy the audience is mainly at the back of the room. Starky don’t muck around though, and get straight into some really pumping rock — the crowd seems to inch forward with every track. The drumming is first class, and when you pair a solid rhythm section with catchy riffs and memorable lyrics, you soon have the crowd moving. By the time they roll out their hits like ‘Saturday Night, Sunday Morning‘, ‘Girl Talk‘ and ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ the place is going nuts. Gerling have a knack for picking good support acts, and Starky certainly carried the torch. There were plenty of “I know this song!” moments between crowd members, and heaps of new fans made, this reviewer included.

But at a Gerling show there’s no question as to who the people have come to see, and it’s only a couple of minutes before Darren, Burke and Presser take the stage. By now the Sol Bar is packed and the roar is awesome when they take their positions.

As usual they don’t mess around, and launch straight into their by now traditional party starter ‘Good Timing’. I don’t know how they do it, because regulations are regulations, but Gerling shows are the loudest on earth! The show is nuts, and with the stage sitting just half a foot above the dancefloor it’s as intimate as they come. They punch out track after track from the new album, which is proving to be as good a party album as ‘Bad Blood’, not a bad effort considering the change in direction. ‘When the night comes?’ and ‘Gator’ are some of the strongest from the new album, but they don’t forget the old favourites – ‘G House Project’ is unbelievable. As always, just when the crowd seems to be getting tired, Gerling manage to squeeze that little bit extra out of the crowd — ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ tears the roof off the Sol Bar, it’s absolutely amazing. The crowd is going ballistic, Burke is standing on top of the amp screaming into the mic, Darren is right up in the crowd’s face, it’s absolutely chaotic!

Before the show Burke said a few of the gigs in the last week had been a little slow due to bad weather – this show certainly makes up for them, it was the craziest show I’ve ever seen. This is one band that really suits a smaller venue, the gig feels like you’re watching friends jam (if your friends were good), and the proximity just intensifies the energy.

One point that doesn’t get mentioned nearly enough is the drumming of Presser – doubtless the band needs the two huge personalities of Burke and Darren up front – but without his undeniable skill behind the drums, Gerling wouldn’t be anywhere near as explosive.

Those lucky enough to have Splendour tix will get to see the end of the tour – the rest of us will have to hope they don’t take as big a break from touring as they did last time.