Hi guys,
Thought I would write a post about the Grinspoon gig I saw at Ferntree Gully last night.
Fu, stu, tre and Gav kicked off the night with some ‘fuck off’ sized food and some beer at Captain America’s which is a little restaurant right around the corner from the Ferntree Gully hotel. Looked at the size of their meals it’s no wonder american’ts came up with the term ‘Super Sized’. Another american’t stereotype was met when I tasted their piss poor version of a pale ale. Just a note guys pale ale is not the same as a larger. Anyway onto the show.
I’ve you’ve never been to the Ferntree Gully Hotel your not missing much as it’s a bit of a dive. Being originally from the m.t Dandenong area I wasn’t surprised with the amount of bogan bums around but I was with impressed with the size of the venue and how many people were there. The show was sold out and I think someone mentioned that there was about 1000 people there which is pretty good for a gig at a hotel/bar.
We caught the start of ‘Something For Numbers’ act and even though they all looked like a bunch of 16yr olds they played some pretty good pop rock music. They even had some girl next to us dancing a crazy spastic dance at one stage.
After another 30min of soaking in the beer,bogus and bitch’s Grinspoon finally came onto stage at about 11:00. They kicked it off with their first single Black Tattoo from their new album ‘Alibis and other lies’. It was a great start and really rocked. They then played a pretty much non-stop 1 1/2 hr set with most of the songs coming off their last 2 albums. Songs that I can remember them playing include Outside looking in, Leave it, Gun for hire,Find your own way (all off their new album),Bleed you dry,better off alone,chemical heart,hold on me (From New detention and Kills,Thrills & Sunday pills) and sweet as sugar.
Highlights included pretty much any of their back catalogue with older fast songs such as Hard Act To Follow, More Than You Are and their new song What You Got was great and had an awesome chorus (Giddy up, POW!). One of my favourite songs 1000 Miles was really fast and loud just the way I like it.
I was actually surprised with the number of acoustic songs that they played and how the crowd really got involved in them. I didn’t actually know that Phil could play acoustic guitar and considering his vocals are rather rock orientated they sounded really good. He even pulled out the harmonica at some stage which is always cool.
By the end of the night most of my buddies were drunk and somehow they managed to join in a moshing ring with some locals without getting either a shiv or a punch to the face. To finish off their encore Grinspoon played an old classic Champion which Stu and Gav had been requesting all night. Since they were the only 2 shouting out for this song it just goes to show what you can achieve through a little perseverance and a lot of drunken shouting.
After the light’s had come back on it was crazy to see how much broken glass and bottles were lying around the place. Since the venue was mostly carpeted I assume most of that shit will still be there next time I come back, for the guns & roses, bon jovi & kiss tribute night on the 19th October.
In the parking lot after the show we saw Phil and the Grinspoon boys nearly ran down some local bogans in their rush to get the hell out of bums town.
On a last note if you’ve never been to a music night around Mt Dandenong do yourself a favor and check one out. If you’ve read my previous post Gyroscope + Rubys = Best Gig Ever you won’t need further convincing but it does come with the Crazyman’s guarantee of awesomeness (Note: Not valid outside Australia).
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