Grinspoon @ The Metro 2/9/04

Wed 8th Sep, 2004 in Gig Reviews

Grinspoon converted the Thursday night Sydney crowd at the Metro, into a bunch of fervent dancers, who howled lyrics at the band, and were keen for the weekend to start early. It was an immense task, considering many of their hardcore fans would be at the sold-out gig on Friday, but they pulled it off.

The guys opened up with Hard Act To Follow, the first single off their upcoming album Thrills, Kills and Sunday Pills. It was a straight performance which would have gotten a beating from Dicko. Frontman Phil Jamieson, who wore black pants and a navy blue sailor jacket, stood motionless at the mic as he belted out the first few songs. His long fringe covered his eyes and the only way the audience knew he was really there was by the fierce vocals that blasted through the speakers.

It took a while before Jamieson warmed up. He started by staggering across the stage during guitar solos, he eventually started dancing his own bastardised version of the Macarena, and he occasionally ended songs with a polite curtsey to the audience. His performance peaked during the song, 1000 Miles, as he alternated between manically running around and cheerfully skipping onstage, while the audience shouted, “Go, go, go!”

The moshpit, inspired by Jamieson’s newfound energy, was transformed from a mass of appreciating head nodders, to a crowd of violent, body jerking punters. “Fuck yeah,” Jamieson said, “That’s more like it.” As the riff for Chemical Heart began, the punters were in a screaming frenzy. The bodyguards, who looked bored during the first half of the gig, were now busy getting crowd surfers over the barricade. “Thanks for listening to our new songs and dancing to our old songs,” guitarist Pat Davern told the crowd.

As the crowd got a breather during the breaks, Jamieson drank and engaged in some polite conversation. He slammed Australian Idol (“I’m really fucking hating it. It’s driving me fucking mad!”), got the goss on Home and Away, (“If anyone knows who died on Home and Away, please tell me.”), and made sure that everyone was having a good time (“How is it? Is everyone ok? Is it too loud? Does anyone need earplugs?”). Earplugs might have been good idea for one punter, who later exclaimed, “My ears are fucked.”

After the guys walked off at the end of the first set, a roaring chant emerged from the moshpit demanding that they come back. When they did return, Jamieson said in a cheesy American accent, “Thank you so much Sydney”, and launched into Anyday Anyhow. They ended the gig with a hammering version of Black Friday. As the lights turned on, Elvis Presley’s In The Ghetto quietly played in the background. It calmed the over-stimulated punters, and reminded them that even though Jamieson thanked the crowd for making it seem like a Friday night, the weekend was, unfortunately, still a day away.