Descendents, Bouncing Souls, Bodyjar, Game Over @ Festival Hall, Melbourne (09/02/2013)
In arriving to the historic venue of Festival Hall, it was obvious that the most passionate of Melbourne’s punk lovers were ready to see pioneers of the modern pop punk movement: Descendants. The crowd helped to set the atmosphere with their big hair, big boots, ripped denim, tartan pants, Converse All Stars, and tattoos and piercings.
The opening act Game Over were very humble and excited to play again after stepping in for Frenzal Rhomb, who had to pull out due to illness. The band who were prominent towards the end of the 90’s thanked the crowd for bringing them back to play again. The heavy distorted punk tunes were a great start tonight and a great warm up for fellow Melbourne based four-piece, Bodyjar.
Bodyjar showed off their impressive live skills. After 20 years of playing, they have definitely not lost the passion and live energy for playing their music. A definite highlight was Not the Same as it brought back nostalgic memories of playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 as a kid and front-man Cameron Bates didn’t miss a note all set.
New Yorkers Bouncing Souls were received very well by the audience and the crowd surfing and moshing really started to begin. Vocalist Greg Attonito had a slightly awkward stage presence which slightly reminded me of how my high school teachers danced at our school formal. However his vocals were perfect. The last song they played he played the acoustic guitar and looked much more comfortable.
When Bodyjar were playing they reminded us of the greats in music history who had played at Festival Hall “Did you know the Beatles played here? And Johnny Cash? And Slayer? And now The Descendants tonight. The big four”.
The Descendants waltzed onto stage for the second ever Melbourne show, and quickly showed their humour which has attracted fans for 20 years. The set consisted of lots of short songs that were rolled out quickly after each other and a few skits that kept the crowd entertained between songs. Vocalist Milo Aukerman began the show dressed in a plush Ned Kelly mask and muttered “such is life” before leading into Everything Sux. Steve Edgerton’s guitar skills were phenomenal and Clean Sheets was just one song that showed his talents.
While playing all-O-gisticics, they brought out a prop representing the slate of the Ten Commandments and read out the “All-O-Gistics”. My two personal favourite were “Thou shall not commit laundry” and “Thou shall not partake in decaf”. It was a really cool visual addition to the show. Towards the end Evan Dando from the Lemonheads came on stage and helped to sing Bikeage. They finished with the song Descendants before playing Sour Grapes, Kabuki Girl, Break through the Jam and Catalina for the encore.
Ryan Hyde
Check out our photos from the night here!
The opening act Game Over were very humble and excited to play again after stepping in for Frenzal Rhomb, who had to pull out due to illness. The band who were prominent towards the end of the 90’s thanked the crowd for bringing them back to play again. The heavy distorted punk tunes were a great start tonight and a great warm up for fellow Melbourne based four-piece, Bodyjar.
Bodyjar showed off their impressive live skills. After 20 years of playing, they have definitely not lost the passion and live energy for playing their music. A definite highlight was Not the Same as it brought back nostalgic memories of playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 as a kid and front-man Cameron Bates didn’t miss a note all set.
New Yorkers Bouncing Souls were received very well by the audience and the crowd surfing and moshing really started to begin. Vocalist Greg Attonito had a slightly awkward stage presence which slightly reminded me of how my high school teachers danced at our school formal. However his vocals were perfect. The last song they played he played the acoustic guitar and looked much more comfortable.
When Bodyjar were playing they reminded us of the greats in music history who had played at Festival Hall “Did you know the Beatles played here? And Johnny Cash? And Slayer? And now The Descendants tonight. The big four”.
The Descendants waltzed onto stage for the second ever Melbourne show, and quickly showed their humour which has attracted fans for 20 years. The set consisted of lots of short songs that were rolled out quickly after each other and a few skits that kept the crowd entertained between songs. Vocalist Milo Aukerman began the show dressed in a plush Ned Kelly mask and muttered “such is life” before leading into Everything Sux. Steve Edgerton’s guitar skills were phenomenal and Clean Sheets was just one song that showed his talents.
While playing all-O-gisticics, they brought out a prop representing the slate of the Ten Commandments and read out the “All-O-Gistics”. My two personal favourite were “Thou shall not commit laundry” and “Thou shall not partake in decaf”. It was a really cool visual addition to the show. Towards the end Evan Dando from the Lemonheads came on stage and helped to sing Bikeage. They finished with the song Descendants before playing Sour Grapes, Kabuki Girl, Break through the Jam and Catalina for the encore.
Ryan Hyde
Check out our photos from the night here!