Polish Club @ The Rosemount Hotel
w/ West Thebarton, Stella Donnelly
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Its Christmas time once again, and boy did Polish Club have a treat for us. Joined by West Thebarton and Stella Donnelly for a sold out show at The Rosemount Hotel, it was a night full of surprises, and a whole lot of fun.
First to take to the stage was the always wonderful Stella Donnelly, who once again, gained a new crop of fans with her incredible voice, quirky songs and hilarious on stage banter.
Donnelly also played a new song, which fit with the tour’s Christmas theme, titled Seasons Greetings, about the annoying and slightly racist family members that you have to put up with at Christmas time. Donnelly gets better every time I see her, and this was no exception to the rule.
Next up was West Thebarton for their West Australian debut. When the band first walked on stage, it looked as if they had auditioned guitarists and couldn’t pick which ones they really wanted, so they just let them all play, but once they got to the chorus of the first song, and a wall of sound was hitting you in the face, it all became clear. Every guitarist had their part to play, and it created an amazing sound.
David Novak from Polish Club joined the band on stage for their current single Bible Camp which went down well with the crowd. The band had so much energy on stage, it was such a joy to watch them play. West Thebarton ended their set on their biggest track, Moving Out, which had fans truely delighted, with some starting to mosh and sing along. It was fair to say that I was quite blown away by West Thebarton’s set, and I can’t wait for their WA return.
When Polish Club took to the stage, they started things off right, with their cover of All I Want For Christmas Is You which had every one singing and dancing along. Next up was Gimme Money which continued the singalongs. During the chorus, members from West Thebarton came onto stage and literally gave the band money, dropping a $10 note into drummer John Henry-Palak’s overalls, and giving another to Novak. It was clear that the two bands had become excellent friends on the tour, and it was so great to see that friendship on stage, and it definitely added an extra element of fun to the show.
Polish Club continued to play a variety of songs from their debut album Alright Already, their new Okie Dokie EP and some early songs, and even included a Foo Fighters cover on the setlist. Beat Up was a highlight as well as Don’t Fuck Me Over.
After some excellent on stage banter, the band launched into The Apocalypse Twist and somehow ended up turning the song into The Spice Girls hit Wannabe, and the surprises kept on coming when they twisted the end of their hit Come Party into Wham’s Last Christmas, an excellent way to end the main set for the night.
The band were only off stage for thirty seconds before calls from the crowd caused them to appear again for their encore. They launched into their Like A Version cover of Flume’s Never Be Like You before being joined once again on stage by West Thebarton for a cover of Semisonic’s Closing Time, a perfect end to the show.
Polish Club claimed on the tour poster that the show was “guaranteed to be more fun than spending Christmas night with your drunk uncle and his weird third wife,” and that is indeed what it was. A very fun show, for both the bands and the crowd.
KIERRA POLLOCK
