Sneeze were the first contestants, and may I say
that if it weren't for the fine line up ahead I would have walked out there and
then! Emerging from the dark with an early Casio
MT65, bongos, and a revolving door behind the main drums, I was stunned,
bewildered and aghast (and other entries alongside amazed in the thesaurus) at
this band purporting to represent the Half
A Cow stable! Two of the singers couldn't (the guitarist/lead vocalist was
OK) and no-one save for a couple of the drummers could actually play. The mix
and lighting matched this abhorrence, although there seems to be a market for
this sort of thing because there was more than polite applause through the set.
Set the HAC scoreboard up with a big
duck-egg to start!
Hoolahan did what was expected of them and actually raised the level of the
evening. It must have been an Ivy
League engineer: even the light and
sound improved, albeit marginally. Maybe Don
King was involved! Hoolahan were bright, punchy and poppy in their
inimitable way, with a let down in the tightness department due to the
almost-constant audible tuning and other delays between tunes. They showed why
they were representatives at the recent PCMC
outing and were one of the main reasons for my being there again. Good work,
chaps!
A relaxing and kick-backable venue like the Bingo Hall (as Bernie Hayes
referred to the venue whose decor has not changed since 1947) needs a
kicked-back and relaxed act like Bernie
for this next set. As expected, Mr Shout delivered
with a smooth but somewhat shortened set, featuring Jess Ciampa
of Tokakros
on percussion and an exceptional selection of songs from his own, the Shouties and Stevie Punder's
catalog. The standout tunes of the night included "Slumber",
“a three to four minute song when I play on my own but even longer when I play
it with a band”, he warned.
Due to personal reasons, I had to bail out fairly early, but not before
seeing Youth
Group doing it for the League. Change is a many varied thing in the music business: while the
stability (since November) of Hoolahan's act is working wonders for their profile,
the support garnered by Youth Group's current direction is pleasing to the
Sydney live-scene cynic! While the style is still Custardesque in places (especially in
the new single "Country Tour") they have honed and sharpened
their indie sound and presentation, complete with the Tim
Rogers/Pete
Townshend guitar flourish and the super-extended rock & roll
finish to the set! Loud, dirty and favoured by the home-ground crowd, with a
tad Brit-rock for added depth!
Who knows which label came through this battle tonight? It will
probably be written up somewhere else, but the winner was definitely live and
independent inner-city music: if it weren't for the innovation and enterprise
of a couple of young bands, events such as these would be things of the past
(or future) in Sydney.