Jebediah, Spiderbait, Something For Kate, You Am I
Women’s Memorial Gardens, Kings Park
Sunday November 20, 2016
What started out as a potentially dark day turned perfectly sunny with an added fresh breeze to keep the punters cool on their visit to the magnificent grounds of Kings Park.
Not the typical venue for a rock show it seemed odd to lay out a picnic blanket and break out the cheese and dip. But when you consider that the 90’s were 20 years ago and we are now bringing our young families along to share what treasured when we were ‘their age’, one could understand the locale.
Conducting the show like it was a night at the ole’ Opry, Mick Newton introduced the bands aided by the Grand Master Bates making each intermission run seamlessly from act to act.
Jebediah were the first to take the stage with frontman Kevin Mitchell making a point of teasing the people in the seated section.
Launching into the set with Jerks of Attention we immediately flashbacked to an all ages gig at Planet Nightclub in 1995. Jebediah’s distinct combination of twangy hooks and sweetly distorted guitars filled the gardens. Throughout their set bassist Ness made full use of her side of the stage with the bass slung just past her knees. Kevin’s vocal style instantly present, especially in crowd favourites Leaving Home and She’s Like a Comet.
Jebediah’s set was hit after hit reminding the audience of what a great act these guys were and still are.
Spiderbait were the next to grace the Women’s Memorial Gardens. Their drum focused rock proved to be a worry for the patrons of Kings Park, worrying that they may destroy what Kram introduced as ‘hello beautiful place’.
It’s hard to restrain from getting up and dancing to Spiderbait. The bouncers at one time were overwhelmed by the number of people who refused to sit down in seated areas. But how can you stay seated when you have such a personable frontman as Kram and you are presented with hit numbers Buy Me a Pony, Calypso, and Fucking Awesome.
Kram insisted that today was 1996, and the mosh pit to the right of the stage condoned his suggestion.
Wrapping up the set with a blistering rendition of Black Betty punters were left exhausted, to the security team’s elation, everyone retreated back to their picnic blankets for the rest of the show.
What better way to calm the crowd than the gentle and brooding Something for Kate. They stepped on stage and launched straight into Captain. It was heard from a lady in the crowd that Paul Dempsey has one of the ‘sexiest voices in Australian music’ and how could you disagree. The band really shone during Three Dimensions.
A graceful and simplistic light show accompanied Something For Kate’s time on stage and another set filled with favourites Hallways, Cigarettes and Suitcases and Monsters. They blessed the crowd with a beautiful redition of REM’s The One I Love and they closed their set with Electricity, just to inject a little extra energy into the crowd before the arrival of You Am I.
You Am I bounded on stage accompanied by a horn section and the Wolfgramm sisters on backing vocals looking like The Commitments turned up to eleven. You Am I were uniformed in striking blue jackets and Tim Rogers adorned what looked like a black sultans cap.
Starting the show with Baby Clothes You Am I tweaked the crowds nostalgic bone with a set of classics Mr Milk, Heavy Heart and Rumble. Tim Rogers wooed the crowd with his self-deprecating wit thanking everyone for giving a bloke with ‘a face like a dropped pie’ a go, urging the punters to go out there and check out their local acts.
At one point the lights dropped out; proving the professionalism and commitment of the band they continued without missing a note or a beat. When the lights came back on the crowd was still dancing like nothing had happened.
They surprised the crowd with a cracking cover of Nutbush City Limits with the Wolfgramm Sisters taking the vocal helm. Closing the night with the iconic Berlin Chair You Am I left the punters of Kings Park on a nostalgic high.
Inviting all the bands back on stage for one final bow, the gratitude between aussie rock royalty of the 90’s and the crowd could be felt throughout the whole of the Women’s Memorial Garden, not one person without a massive smile on their face.
An unusual line up for A Day on The Green but one that worked marvellously well and one that shouldn’t be missed when they do it again.
Photos by Paul Dowd Photography
