Strong Like Sam, LosCapitanes, Kempsey, EnvyParade @ The Greenroom,Phillip (15/07/2006)

Mon 17th Jul, 2006 in Gig Reviews

The long anticipated day was finally here for fans of local band Strong Like Sam;
the day they released their EP An Honest Love.

When Sydney band Envy Parade kicked off the all ages event at The Greenroom
was practically full. Their rock rhythms really entertained the punters. It’s always good to
see a talented Sydney band visit Canberra and have the crowd singing along to their songs.
In this case ‘Just Forget It’ was the most well-known and loved song. Despite their bass
player having a minor upset with his bass, Envy Parade impressed the Canberra locals.

Kempsey made a strong entrance onto the stage, jumping straight into their
songs. As always between songs Drew and Flynn entertained the crowd with their humorous
antics. This time they pulled their best moves out in a worst dancing competition, with the
crowd picking Flynn as the winner, or is that loser? Kempsey pumped out their catchy beats
in the most energetic show I’ve seen them play in a long time.

The crowd cheered as the seven boys from Los Capitanes entered stage right.
This was the first time in over a year I had seen the boys play a full set and I was impressed
by how far they’ve come. Obviously a favourite local band, the boys definitely got the crowd
skanking (the ska dance) along to their songs. Ska isn’t the most popular genre at the
moment but that doesn’t stop these boys giving it all they’ve got. The crowd especially
went crazy when ‘Scene Queen’ and ‘Surfin’ACT’ were played. As Los Capitanes were playing
with their old drummer Chris, the boys belted out some of their older tunes at the request
of the crowd. Altogether despite slight arrogance from the lead singer, Los Capitanes
performed a enjoyable show.

By the time Strong Like Sam came onto the stage the crowd had already been
hit with three great bands, and were ready rock. Strong Like Sam developed a strong local
following over the past year and adoring fans have been waiting a long time for release of
their debut EP.

The boys kicked off with one of their later songs ‘A Judas Kiss’. Playing a mixture of new
and old songs the crowd knew the words to all their songs and their voices could be heard
loud and clear singing along. The Guitarist had minor difficulties with his guitar, having to
retune a few times and breaking a string. When the boys played their song ‘Trust Me I Try’,
a definite favourite, the crowd belted out the lyrics and were almost louder than the
singer. To close out the set, members of Envy Parade, Kempsey and Los Capitanes joined
Strong Like Sam on stage to finish it off. The crowd begged the boys for one more song and
sure enough they returned to finish off with their much-loved tune ‘Kiralee’.

All up it was an excellent show, with four talented bands taking the stage. The only
disappointments were the slight technical difficulties and the dreary weather. None of this
was drastic enough to dim the electric atmosphere of the day. This was yet another event
that proved that the Canberra music scene is thriving.