Side Track'd @ AscotRacecourse, Perth (1/1/2007)

Thu 4th Jan, 2007 in Gig Reviews

If there was one event in Perth’s social calendar that would rank at the top it would be the Perth Cup at the Ascot Racecourse on New Year’s Day.

As a new sideshow of entertainment to accompany the gambling, booze and designer clothes of the Perth Cup, Side Track’d, this year, has certainly given the New Year’s Day races a new audience of musos and bored punters a reason to rock a new day of a new year.

Drawing both the high-class corporate punters and general gig goers were some of Australia’s best artists with a dash of New Zealand. No other lineup including The Living End, Evermore and Something for Kate could get scantily clothed designer wearers in a mini mosh pit alongside boardies and singlet men.

The event started five minutes before midday, obviously a bit too early for concert goers, due to the previous night/year’s celebrations, which gave the first few artists a fairly poor turnout. The Kill Devil Hills and Fdel performed to no more than 30 or 40 from the large hemisphere stage keeping the music away from the stallions racing nearby.

With Something for Kate on the band list there should have been a much larger turnout considering their long-kept fame and this year’s tour as pat of the Big Day Out. Either way the three-piece band didn’t seem to mind playing to the crowd of early die-hard fans. Paul Dempsey never fell short of being his energetic self and at one point almost did the splits while jamming out on his guitar. They finished up with some of their best hits (Deja-Vu, Captain). Their final song was a perfect - if not better - version of REM’s The One I Love.

Kicking on after Something for Kate was the reggae rock of The Beautiful Girls. Their act was well received and brought some more life to the still growing audience. We Perth people love our reggae rock very much and it was certainly evident at Side Track’d due to The Beautiful Girls’ encore jam session bringing massive cheers from the audience.

The Beautiful Girls carried on their danceable hits after doing a career first: to pause while the main horse race carried on past the fence. The audience wasn’t too enthused about a pause and seemed more interested in the music.

Nearing up to the fifth hour of the concert with the crowd, now well into the hundreds, with heaps more spectators sitting at the back of the field, No other group could have given out such an energetic vibe than what The Grates did. The most fun and entertaining group of the day, with guitarist John Patterson wearing a big fluffy panda helmet guzzling a beer, drummer Alana Skyring happily observing the crowd’s smiles and the highly energetic Patience Hodgson in an Indian outfit giving fans that ray of happiness with her beautiful smiles. The Grates certainly left a lasting impression upon the now-massive audience partly due to the easy sing-along songs but more due to Patience’s interaction with the crowd.

To only add to the top artists lining up for Side Track’d, the Hume Brothers from Evermore hit the stage with hits like See the Light, It’s Too Late and Running, which were sung word for word by the audience and lead vocalist John Hume. Evermore could have been the headlining act for Side Track’d but the audience, once that the races were well over, had grown well into the thousands forming a very tight-knit mosh pit.

Australian music couldn’t have been represented by any better band than The Living End with their very well known chart topping hits getting the crowd jumping up and down like some deep African tribe. Roll On certainly had some meaning for the sweat ridden bodies up the front of the crowd. It was hard for some spectators to focus on Scott Owen propping up his double bass and standing on it while still plucking out The Living End heartbeat or vocalist Chris Cheney playing his guitar with the neck of his Corona when they weren’t enlightened by a crowdsurfer’s foot.

The Melbourne trio performed all their biggest hits, All Torn Down, Prisoner of Society, West End Riot and What’s On Your Radio, which were very suitable for the all-ages crowd. The fans didn’t want to go home when the Living End finished and they got the encore they wanted.

Possibly one of the biggest and the best music events on the West Coast, new entrant, Side Track’d made its presence felt not only as a sideshow event to the Perth Cup, but as a great event in its own right. There is no doubt that this event will be much bigger next year.