Panthers, Newcastle
Saturday November 8, 2014 :
Self professed ‘International Bad Guy of the Week’ and ‘Internet Trending’ Fat Mike, and his band mates in NOFX haven’t been out in Australia for about four years (December 2010 for the ‘No Sleep Til’ Festival) and in that time, have released an album (Self Entitled), a fist full of Singles/EP’s (Hardcore, Stoke Extinguisher, ‘My Stepdad’s a Cop’, ‘Ronnie & Mags’ and ‘Xmas Has Been X’ed’) – so, there’s a lot of excitement about the tour, case in point, they’ve sold out half their tour before they even landed into the country, and the excitement from Newcastle tonight was no exception.
Hometown hero’s (and one of the best bands flying the punk rock flag) Local Resident Failure were given the honour of opening up on all four NSW shows on the tour, and you could tell that they were loving every second of it. Playing songs off their album due out next year, LRF treated fans that showed up early, and proved that modern pop punk doesn’t need to consist of choreographed jumps, and that you can have a message in a song, and still have a catchy hook.
Frenzal Rhomb – a band that needs no introduction, at all – always deliver, and tonight was no different. For a band that’s got over 20 years of music under it’s belt, they’ll bang out a set list that covers all 20 years – whilst keeping everyone in the room entertained. There’s never any phoning it in, and they play as fast – if not faster than their recordings, which whipped the Newcastle crowd into frenzy. In the break between Nofx and Frenzal Rhomb, I heard a lot of complaints about the bar situation – overhearing one punter say ‘I started lining up before LRF started, and walked in to see Frenzal Rhomb’s Last song’. I don’t drink, so I didn’t have that issue – but you’d think the venue would have been better prepared for the night…
One of the many things I love about NOFX is that, with over 30 years of music, they will still mix thing sup, set – wise. In the song ‘It’s my Job to Keep Punk Rock Elite’, Fat Mike sings (which unfortunately wasn’t on the set list) “Unsubstantiated rumors flown are true//I’m here for me not you” – which sums up a NOFX live show. You’re always going to hear ‘Bob, Leave it Alone’ and ‘Linoleum’, which are guaranteed crowd pleasers – but then they’ll always throw in a few curve balls like ‘Leaving Jesus Land’ and ‘Herojuana’ and my highlight of the set – ’11 Songs in 11 Mins’. The hits came thick and fast – but for a nice change of pace, they’d drop some of their reggae inspired jams like ‘Eat the Meek’ and a great spin on Rancid’s ‘Radio’. Throw in a Tony Sly (RIP) cover, ‘The Shortest Pier’ and you’ve got a pretty impressive set that would please die hard Nofx Fans, and ‘I used to listen to them when I was younger’ fans alike. The few technical difficulties at the start were a distant memory now, and the room was full of mile wide smiles and fingers pointed in the air. The Night ended with an encore of hits, which they closed with a solo Eric Melvin and his Accordion singing ‘I, Melvin’.
Time flies when you’re having fun, and with what seemed like about half an hour, it was all over (granted – they played for nearly 90 mins).
Reviewer: Joel Attenborough
Photographer: Matt McIntyre
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