The Triffid, Brisbane
Sunday July 10, 2016 :
Three words… WE. ARE. COGGING.
After a massive hiatus of well over 5 years, one of the country’s best rock acts, Cog, started to make a few quiet updates on their social media… One updated timeline cover with upcoming tour dates appeared early one morning last February and before any of the music publications even had a chance to announce the upcoming tour, the tickets had gone on sale, and within hours sold out to thousands of loyal fans thrilled to hear their favourite act was about to dust of the cobwebs and head out on tour once again.
We arrived at The Triffid on a Sunday night to a packed crowd that can only be described as one reminiscent of the Cambo circa 1999…. We all may be a little older, but the band shirts, black jeans, and good vibes were all the same as they were back in the day. Support act Sleepmakeswaves opened up the night with their heavy melodic tunes, and warmed up the crowd with track such as ‘Birds’, ‘Northern’ and ‘Avalanches’.
After a short break the lights went down and to enormous cheers from the crowd, Cog took to the stage. To say that they started out big would be an understatement, with the epic 10 minute track ‘Doors’ blowing the crowd away and showing us in no uncertain terms how huge this set would be.
Next up was ‘Are You Interested’ which whipped the crowd into a frenzy and then the unmistakable opening vocals of ‘Resonate’ had the crowd singing along so loud that you could barely hear the band over the chanting “It’s elevating us, it’s resonating…”
The band then showcased tracks from throughout their career spanning the last couple of decades, such as ‘What If’, ‘Swamp’, and ‘Bird Of A Feather’ from 2008 release Sharing Space, as well as epic tracks such as ‘Anarchy Ok’, ‘Real Life’, ‘The Spine’ and ‘Silence Is Violence’ from their killer 2003 release, The New Normal. They even threw in a great cover of Leftfield’s ‘Open Up’ much to the crowd’s delight.
The highlight of the set for me was ‘My Enemy’, which was absolutely massive, and the acoustics in the hangar of the Triffid were absolutely amazing.
Cog put on such a tight set that you would be excused to think that these guys had just jumped fresh off the live touring circuit, not jumping back on. There was no sign that these guys had such a long break between live performances, they play so well together, with the Gower brothers completely in sync with one another, creating a sound that is so big and so layered that it feels as though there should be more band members on stage in order to make these tracks come to life, while Lucius is all commanding on the kit, creating beats that are so unique and truly setting their band apart from all others.
The amount of passion and conviction that Flynn has in his lyrics is astounding, and while on stage banter is kept to a minimum, I found it impossible not to take more away from the show than just a good time.
So, as the night came to a close I asked my mates if this show was worth the 5 year wait? You bet it was.
Reviewer and Photographer : Chrissy Kavalieros
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