To kick off the Splendour In The Grass weekend
festivities, Brisbane hosted one of two pre-parties at The Triffid last Thursday night,
featuring The Dandy Warhols, Last Dinosaurs, Dune Rats and Circa Waves.
As with any night at The
Triffid it starts with one of their signature Triffid Burgers and a beverage
outside in the beer garden while waiting for doors to open. Once inside, we
were first greeted by Liverpool band, Circa Waves, who started the night with a
bang. They started to a room of about 20 people, but by their second song, the
room was quickly filling. By their fourth song, I doubt there was a space left. Although jetlagged, Circa Waves produced a high-energy set, which
proved to be a strong and impressive start to the night. They included hits
from their new album, ‘Young Chasers’, including ‘Fossils’, ‘T-shirt Weather’,
‘Get Away’ and more - performed effortlessly.
Following Circa Waves were Dune Rats. They were very pleased to be playing at home in Brisbane again. Dune Rats were definitely the contrasting performers of the night but were popular among the crowd. They were extremely high energy and I thought at some stage Brett Jansch (bass/vocals) was definitely going to break his neck from excessive head banging. Frontman, Danny Beusa (guitar/vocals) really embraced his crazy on stage with bulging eyes and even kicking the AV guy and spitting on the guitar tech. Although their set was nowhere near perfect and they experienced a brief technical issue with the lead guitar, their high spirits and energy was infectious. It was hard not to enjoy their set.
Last Dinosaurs took the stage after Dune Rats and performed a precise and polished set comprised of a mixture of songs, including ‘Zoom’, ‘Honolulu’, their new track ‘Evie’ as well as a standout cover medley of Spiller’s ‘Groovejet’ and Modjo’s ‘Lady’ that had everyone grooving along with them. Although their set was a somewhat subdued segment of the night, their talent displayed on stage made you stand back and watch as they played intricate riffs and rhythms. Youthful and dedicated, these tidy hipsters have a lot to look forward to after their second album release this year.
At this point in the night the audience could wait no longer; it was time for The Dandy Warhols. You could feel the anticipation in the room as the crowd whistled at every false-alarm-roadie that walked on stage as they waited for The Dandys to make their appearance.
The Dandy Warhols started their set heavy and deep with opening track ‘Be In’ but brought out popular favourites ‘We Used To Be Friends’, ‘Get Off’, ‘The Last High’ and ‘Bohemian Like You’ later on in the set which, surely enough, had the crowd hooked and going off. The Dandy Warhols are what I would describe as a band of moments. There were moments of reflection and surrealism, moments of depth and emotion, as well as plenty of moments of elation, fun and happiness all rolled into one short set. With a collection of material that dates back to 1995, you can expect The Dandy Warhols to take you on a journey as they play snippets of their timeless catalogue.
Courtney Taylor-Taylor (guitar/vocals) sported his signature pigtails and said very little, other than thank-you, throughout the set but still managed to have the audience hanging off his every sung lyric. It was amazing to see how much these guys seem to still enjoy doing what they’re doing. This was most evident on the face of drummer Brent DeBoer as he smiled his way through each track. Peter Holmstrom (guitar) performed flawlessly and pulled out the usual too-cool rock star moves. For anyone that has seen The Dandy Warhols live before, I don’t think I need say more about Zia McCabe (keys/bass/percussion), but if you’re wondering, yes, she’s still got it!
The night may have ended
abruptly and a little prematurely but it definitely gave the audience a taste
of what they might be seeing, or in some cases, missing out on, at Splendour
at the weekend.
To see this whole article, more photos from the gig, and a bunch more info on SITG, head to Scenestr.
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